THORAX • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Thorax

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/θˈɔræks/ Listen

noun

Thorax n.

(Anat.) The part of the trunk between the neck and the abdomen, containing that part of the body cavity the walls of which are supported by the dorsal vertebrae, the ribs, and the sternum, and which the heart and lungs are situated; the chest. Note: In mammals the thoracic cavity is completely separated from the abdominal by the diaphragm, but in birds and many reptiles the separation is incomplete, while in other reptiles, and in amphibians and fishes, there is no marked separation and no true thorax.

(Zool.)

(a)

The middle region of the body of an insect, or that region which bears the legs and wings. It is composed of three united somites, each of which is composed of several distinct parts.

(b)

The second, or middle, region of the body of a crustacean, arachnid, or other articulate animal. In the case of decapod Crustacea, some writers include under the term thorax only the three segments bearing the maxillipeds; others include also the five segments bearing the legs.

(Antiq.) A breastplate, cuirass, or corselet; especially, the breastplate worn by the ancient Greeks.

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Etymology of 'Thorax'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Thorax" Quotes from Famous Books

... of the breast; and so joined that when the lungs respire, each and all things, in general and in particular, partake of the respiratory motion. Thus when the lungs are inflated, the ribs expand the thorax, the pleura is dilated, and the diaphragm is stretched wide, and with these all the lower parts of the body, which are connected with them by ligaments therefrom, receive some action through the pulmonic action; not to mention further facts, lest those who have no knowledge of anatomy, ...

— Angelic Wisdom Concerning the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom • Emanuel Swedenborg

... the animal, for they wished to save the blood which is considered of great medicinal value. They filled caps, sacks, bamboo joints, and every receptacle which they could find after each man had drunk all he could possibly force down his throat and had eaten the huge clots which choked the thorax. ...

— Camps and Trails in China - A Narrative of Exploration, Adventure, and Sport in Little-Known China • Roy Chapman Andrews and Yvette Borup Andrews

... the blood by alternate contractions and dilatations, which in the mammalian embryo first appears as two tubes lying under the head and immediately behind the first visceral arches, but gradually moves back and becomes lodged in the thorax." ...

— The Patrol of the Sun Dance Trail • Ralph Connor

... insect. The light in this case was also rendered more brilliant by irritation. I amused myself one day by observing the springing powers of this insect, which have not, as it appears to me, been properly described. [5] The elater, when placed on its back and preparing to spring, moved its head and thorax backwards, so that the pectoral spine was drawn out, and rested on the edge of its sheath. The same backward movement being continued, the spine, by the full action of the muscles, was bent like a spring; and the insect at this moment rested on the extremity of its head and wing-cases. The effort ...

— The Voyage of the Beagle • Charles Darwin

... the eyes of the old and the young animal are developed in entirely different parts of the body; the tips of the mature limbs are formed within the larval limbs, and may be said to be metamorphosed from them; but their basal portions and the whole thorax are developed in a plane actually at right angles to the limbs and thorax of the larva; and this {367} may be called metagenesis. The metagenetic process is carried to an extreme degree in the development of some Echinoderms, for the animal in the second stage ...

— The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication, Volume II (of 2) • Charles Darwin

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