dura mater

views updated Jun 11 2018

dura mater The outermost and toughest of the three membranes (meninges) that surround the central nervous system in vertebrates. It lies adjacent to the skull and its purpose is to protect the delicate inner meninges (the arachnoid membrane and the pia mater).

A Dictionary of Biology

dura mater

views updated May 11 2018

dura mater outermost envelope of brain and spinal cord. XV. — medL., lit. ‘hard mother’, tr. Arab. al-'umm al-jalīda or al-jāfiya ‘the hard mother’; so called because it was thought to be the source of every other membrane in the body; cf. PIA MATER.
Hence dural XIX.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology T. F. HOAD

dura mater

views updated May 14 2018

du·ra ma·ter / ˈd(y)oŏrə ˈmätər; ˈmā-/ • n. see dura1 .

The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English

dura

views updated May 18 2018

dura (dura mater, pachymeninx) (dewr-ă) n. the thickest and outermost of the three meninges surrounding the brain and spinal cord.
—dural adj.

A Dictionary of Nursing

dura mater

views updated Jun 11 2018

dura mater See MENINGES.

A Dictionary of Zoology MICHAEL ALLABY

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