1. A bone shaped like a top: The turbinate is a bone in the nose which is an extension of the ethmoid bone, and is situated along the side wall of the nose, and is covered by mucous membrane.

The turbinate in the nose was so named because it is a curled shelf of bone protruding from the lateral (side) wall of the nasal cavity.
2. Etmology: The word turbinate is related to a turbine, which is derived from Latin turbo, "a whorl", "an eddy", or "a spiral shell".