labyrinth- +
(Greek > Latin: maze; the inner ear)
2. An intricate structure of interconnecting passages through which it is difficult to find one's way; a maze.
3. Something which is made up of many different parts that is complicated and hard to understand: "They tried to figure out a labyrinth of tax regulations."
4. A structure consisting of connected cavities or canals, especially the inside of the ear.
5. The internal or inner ear, composed of the semicircular ducts, vestibule, and the cochlea.
6. Any group of communicating cavities, as in each lateral mass of the ethmoid bone.
Ethmoid bone: an irregularly shaped, spongy bone that provides the floor of the front part of the skull and the roof of the nose.
The ethmoid bone consists of two masses of thin plates enclosing air cells and looks like a sieve.
2. Excision (cutting out) of the labyrinth; a destructive operation to destroy labyrinthine function.
3. Excision of the labyrinth of the ear, done because of implacable vestibular dysfunction when severe hearing loss is already present.
The Anabas fish are remarkable for their power of living a long time out of water, making their way on land for considerable distances, and for climbing trees; a climbing fish.
They have, connected with the gill chamber, a special cavity in which a labyrinthiform membrane is arranged so as to retain water to supply the gills while the fish leaves the water and travels about on land, or even climbs trees.
2. With complicated sinuous (wavy like the path of a snake) lines or winding passages.
2. Relating to, affecting, or originating in the inner ear: "He had labyrinthine deafness."
3. Extremely complicated and therefore difficult to understand.
2. Inflammation of the labyrinth, the system of intercommunicating canals and cavities within the inner ear responsible for sensing balance.
Labyrinthitis may be accompanied by the sudden onset of a feeling of vertigo triggered by head or body movement together with feelings of nausea and malaise which may be due to various causes including viral and bacterial infections.
3. Etymology: the term labyrinth comes from the Greek labyrinthos for "a structure with intricate passages intersecting each other".A labyrinth played a role in Greek mythology with reference to a maze on Crete where the monstrous Minotaur roamed and devoured his victims.
2. Etymology: literally "labyrinth-toothed".
It is from the order Labyrinthodonta which is also known as Mastodonsaurus.
2. The anatomic nomenclature for a system of intercommunicating cavities or canals.
2. Any confusing tangle or muddle; for example, of regulations or procedures, that are difficult to negotiate.
3. An intricate, usually confusing network of interconnecting pathways, as in a garden; a labyrinth.
4. Etymology: from Middle English mase, "confusion"; maze, from masen, "to confuse, to daze"; from Old English masian, "to confound".
5. Short for amaze, to astonish, to stun, or to stupefy someone.
The word amaze comes from amasian, "stupefy, make crazy" from a-, probably used here as an intensitive prefix, plus -masian. The sense of "overwhelm with wonder" is from about 1592. Amazing in the sense of "great beyond expectation" is first recorded in 1704.
2. A medical operation uniting a neotympanic system to a labyrinthine fistula for the cure of progressive hearing loss from otosclerosis.