umbilicus

3 definitions found

umbilicus - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Umbilicus \Um`bi*li"cus\, n. [L. See Umbilic.]
     1. (Anat.) The depression, or mark, in the median line of the
        abdomen, which indicates the point where the umbilical
        cord separated from the fetus; the navel; the belly
        button, in humans.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Gr. & Rom. Antiq.) An ornamented or painted ball or boss
        fastened at each end of the stick on which manuscripts
        were rolled. --Dr. W. Smith.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. (Bot.) The hilum.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. (Zool.)
        (a) A depression or opening in the center of the base of
            many spiral shells.
        (b) Either one of the two apertures in the calamus of a
            feather.
            [1913 Webster]
  
     5. (Geom.)
        (a) One of the foci of an ellipse, or other curve. [Obs.]
        (b) A point of a surface at which the curvatures of the
            normal sections are all equal to each other. A sphere
            may be osculatory to the surface in every direction at
            an umbilicus. Called also umbilic.
            [1913 Webster]

umbilicus - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  umbilicus
      n 1: a scar where the umbilical cord was attached; "you were not
           supposed to show your navel on television"; "they argued
           whether or not Adam had a navel"; "she had a tattoo just
           above her bellybutton" [syn: navel, umbilicus,
           bellybutton, belly button, omphalos, omphalus]

umbilicus - Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 :

  24 Moby Thesaurus words for "umbilicus":
     axis, center, center of action, center of gravity, centroid,
     centrum, core, dead center, epicenter, heart, hub, kernel, marrow,
     medulla, metacenter, middle, nave, navel, nub, nucleus, omphalos,
     pith, pivot, storm center