alveolaradj.n.
/ˌalvɪˈəʊlə/, /alˈviːələ/, /ˈalvɪələ/, U.S. /ælˈvi(ə)lər/, /ˈˌælviˈoʊlər/ A. adj.
1.
a. Anatomy and Zoology. Of or relating to the socket of a tooth, or to the part of a jawbone which contains the tooth sockets; designating this part of a jawbone. Cf. alveolus n. 1.See also Compounds.
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the world > life > the body > digestive or excretive organs > digestive organs > mouth > substance or parts of teeth > [adjective] > socket
alveolary1733
alveolar1750
1750 Compl. Syst. Blood-vessels & Nerves sig. E/1 The alveolar branch, accompanying the buccinator hardly conspicuous.
1799 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 89 216 Both the fangs and the alveolar processes begin to be absorbed.
1820 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 110 179 This portion of the lower jaw has eight alveolar excavations, which are sometimes empty, and sometimes contain the rudiments of teeth.
1872 H. A. Nicholson Man. Palæontol. 366 The alveolar border of the upper jaw.
1903 Man 3 12 The gnathic index..of Flower..was based on the lengths of the radii between the basion and nasion, and between the basion and alveolar point.
1938 Amer. Antiq. 3 324 Eskimo crania also exhibit high degrees of alveolar prognathism, either in conjunction with a prenasal sulcus or not.
2001 Oxoniensia 65 193 The dental ware [sic] on the remaining molars and some alveolar resorption indicate an age of 35 to 40 years.
b. Phonetics. Of a speech sound, esp. a consonant: articulated by placing the tongue against or near to the alveolar ridge. Also of speech, pronunciation, etc.: characterized by the use of such sounds.In English, alveolar consonants include d, n, s, and t.apico-, labio-, palato-, post-alveolar, etc.: see the first element.
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1874 A. J. Ellis On Early Eng. Pronunc. IV. xi. 1340/1 These [consonants] are illustrated by signs, to be thus translated:..(z), alveolar, fricative.
1899 W. Rippmann tr. W. Vietor Elem. Phonetics 90 The articulation appears to be usually dorsal and alveolar.
1953 Internat. Jrnl. Amer. Linguistics 19 302/2 Affricates are /c, č/: alveolar and alveo-palatal respectively.
1966 R. E. Asher in C. E. Bazell In Memory of J. R. Firth 17 r is a tapped alveolar consonant.
1998 R. Stone Damascus Gate i. xxvi. 185 He found it impossible not to take the alveolar Magyar pronunciation as a patronizing insult.
2009 P. Roach Eng. Phonetics & Phonol. (ed. 4) vi. 41 These [sc. s, z] are alveolar fricatives, with the same place of articulation as t, d.
2. Biology. Resembling a cell of a honeycomb or (that of) a honeycomb; esp. having a surface covered with small, often polygonal, pits; alveolate; reticulate. Cf. alveolus n. 2.
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the world > life > biology > physical aspects or shapes > indentation or cavity > [adjective] > depression or cavity
capsulary1615
vesiculara1682
capsular1727
follicular1743
alveolar1816
antral1820
celluliferous1822
fossiform1824
impressed1826
sacciform1836
vestibular1836
ventricular1841
vestibulary1843
saccular1861
tubero-cystic1879
scrobicular1888
tubulosaccularc1900
vacuolized1910
cisternal1920
lacunate1957
vesiculating1966
1816 Curtis's Bot. Mag. 43 No. 1804 Receptacle alveolar, with a fine long down in the interstices.
1825 Lancet 15 Jan. 58/1 The inner surface of the gastro-intestinal mucous membrane presents many irregularities, such as the alveolar or infundibuliform depressions of the follicles.
1855 Veterinarian 28 287 The alveolar mucous membrane is so named from presenting a surface made of minute depressions in the form of pens or cells, separated by septa; these depressions being the alveoli.
1898 A. Sedgwick Student's Text-bk. Zool. I. 38 The pellicle seems to be part of the living tissue, and frequently has an alveolated structure, in which case it forms the alveolar layer.
1920 Bot. Gaz. 69 90 The alveolar or reticulate condition in which the chromosomes are found in late telophase is continuous with the similar condition seen in the succeeding prophase.
1976 New Phytologist 76 544 The development of spined, alveolar sexine, such as that characteristic of Cosmos bipinnatus, has so far not been investigated.
2010 B. J. Smith et al. Limestone in Built Environment 15/2 Frequently, the main deterioration phenomenon is alveolar weathering.
3. Anatomy and Zoology. Of or relating to the alveoli of the lungs; designating such alveoli. Cf. alveolus n. 6.
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the world > life > the body > respiratory organs > [adjective] > lungs > air-cell of
vesicular1829
interalveolar1834
alveolar1849
1849 Edinb. Med. & Surg. Jrnl. 72 102 The walls of these last, diminishing in thickness in proportion as they approach the surface of the lung, end by becoming no longer distinct from the alveolar walls.
1885 E. A. Schäfer Essent. Histol. xxv. 123 Between the capillaries is seen the homogeneous alveolar wall with nuclei of connective-tissue corpuscles.
1927 J. B. S. Haldane & J. S. Huxley Animal Biol. vii. 153 This, which is called the alveolar air, can be obtained at the end of a deep breath out.
1986 R. Bakker Dinosaur Heresies (1988) xvii. 363 Air must be sucked into the alveolar sacs and then squeezed directly out again.
2008 Science 19 Sept. 1606/2 In mice..alveolar macrophages in the lower respiratory tract..express a high level of the receptor for CD200, a ligand that coats airway epithelial cells.
4. Anatomy. Of or relating to an alveolus or acinus of an exocrine gland; acinar. Cf. alveolus n. 7.
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the world > life > the body > secretory organs > gland > [adjective] > parts of gland
alveolar1872
interacinous1876
interacinar1900
1872 H. Power tr. E. F. W. Pflüger in Stricker's Man. Histol. II. xiv. 297 The cell processes are often of great length,..and support the alveolar cells [of the salivary gland] like berries.
1975 Times 10 Oct. 16/2 Prolactin..is responsible for the secretion of milk by the alveolar cells in the breasts.
2009 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 106 4727/2 Overexpression of PML [= promyelocytic leukemia protein]..delays differentiation of mammary alveolar structures.
B. n.
1. Anatomy and Zoology. An alveolar process.
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1827 E. Griffith et al. Cuvier's Animal Kingdom II. 60 The enormous size of the alveolars necessary to form a lodgment for canines of this description elevates the top of the upper jaw in the form of a large inflated muzzle.
1874 W. B. Dawkins Cave Hunting vi. 192 The alveolars short, but rather projecting.
1904 Man 4 88 All the teeth are wanting, but the loss has been post-mortem as the alveolars are not filled.
1985 Jrnl. Communication Disorders 18 307 A low tongue rest position..is more frequent than a high tongue position, that is, with the tip at the level of the upper incisors or of the maxillary alveolars.
2. Phonetics. An alveolar speech sound; esp. an alveolar consonant. See sense A. 1b.
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the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > speech sound by place or organ > [noun] > alveolar
gingival1669
alveolar1874
1874 A. J. Ellis On Early Eng. Pronunc. IV. xi. 1352 Several stages are also often distinguished where I had only one, thus dentals become dentals, alveolar-dentals, double alveolars, and alveolars, and so on.
1895 P. Giles Short Man. Compar. Philol. i. v. 68 The sounds called dentals—t, d, th, dh, where th represents not the sound in then or thin but t followed by breath—are in English pronunciation not dentals but alveolars, being produced by the pressure of the tongue against the roots of the teeth.
1910 Encycl. Brit. VII. 725/1 The English d..in phonetic terminology is called an alveolar. In the languages of India..both true dentals and alveolars are found.
1961 R. B. Long Sentence & its Parts xix. 430 This obstruction [in the flow of air] can occur..in the front of the mouth above the teeth, as for the alveolars.
1991 Lang. in Society 20 427 Occasional shifts of alveolars to alveopalatals are noted in their casual conversation.
Compounds
In sense A. 1.
alveolar arch n. [after French arcade alvéolaire (1724 or earlier); compare quot. 1733 at alveolary adj.] an alveolar process; (also) the alveolar processes of the right and left maxilla, or of the right and left mandible, considered together.
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1791 W. Vaughan Expos. Princ. Anat. & Physiol. I. 73 The Alveolar Arch, which if both bones be taken together, is composed of sixteen (alveoli) sockets.
1837 W. P. Cocks Conc. Treat. Operative Surg. 352 After dividing the soft parts that adhered to the internal surface of the alveolar arch, he detached the entire mass of the osteo-sarcoma.
1943 K. L. Pike Phonetics vii. 123 A domal sound (i.e. cerebral, or cacuminal) implies that the tongue tip articulates somewhere behind the alveolar arch.
2005 L. Barnes et al. Pathol. & Genetics Head & Neck Tumours 166/2 The hard palate is continuous anteriorly with the maxillary alveolar arches and posteriorly with the soft palate.
alveolar process n. [after scientific Latin processus alveolaris (1755 in the passage translated in quot. 1756)] the thickened ridge of the maxilla which contains the tooth sockets; (also) the corresponding structure in the mandible.
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1756 tr. A. von Haller Pathol. Observ. 169 The jaw bone was shorter than usual, terminating at the socket of the third Dens molaris, before there was neither gum nor alveolar processes [L. alveolaris processus].
1834 Lancet 10 May 219/1 If an artificial tooth be placed in the jaw, the gum shrinks, the alveolar process shrinks away from it; it will not adhere to the new object.
1926 Internat. Jrnl. Orthodontia 12 807 Such orthodontic difficulties..might be the result of fairly normal increments of growth of the alveolar processes associated with slight deviation from the normal alveolo-palatal angle.
2011 Dental Traumatol. 27 63 A five-year-old boy was admitted to the clinic..after a fall accident, which resulted in the fracture of the mandibular alveolar process.
alveolar ridge n. = alveolar process n.
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1823 N.-Y. Med. & Physical Jrnl. 2 130 Both of these skulls exhibit..the high and spreading cheekbones, large quadrangular orbits, wide nasal aperture, and flattened alveolar ridge.
1914 N. G. Bennett Sci. & Pract. Dental Surg. xxx. 512/2 Dentures should be inserted as early as possible after the removal of the teeth in order to preserve the alveolar ridge.
2009 R. Ogden Introd. Eng. Phonetics ii. 13 People's alveolar ridges are very variable: some are very prominent, others hardly noticeable.
Derivatives
ˌalveoˈlarity n. the fact or quality of being alveolar (esp. in sense A. 1b).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > speech sound by place or organ > [noun] > alveolar > quality
alveolarity1912
1912 Sci. Progress 6 378 The constitution of protoplasm, with its nucleated cells, its flaccidity and its alveolarity, was not a special attribute of life.
1952 A. Cohen Phonemes of Eng. ii. 36 If now we put ‘normal’ [t] against [þ] we find: alveolarity v. labiality.
1964 R. H. Robins Gen. Linguistics iv. 155 The nine separate phonemes..are maintained as distinctive units by six features: plosion, voice, nasality, bilabiality, alveolarity, and velarity.
1995 T. Akamatsu in J. W. Lewis Stud. Gen. & Eng. Phonetics (2005) i. 5 The alveolarity of /t/ in that will be assimilated to the bilabiality of /p/ in pen.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2012; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.n.1750