* * *
The largest of the three auditory ossicles, resembling a club rather than a hammer; it is regarded as having a head, below which is the neck, and from this diverge the handle or manubrium, and the slender, anterior process; from the base of the manubrium the short lateral process arises. The manubrium and lateral process are firmly attached to the tympanic membrane, and the head articulates with a saddle-shaped surface on the body of the incus. SYN: hammer. [L. a hammer]
* * *
mal·le·us 'mal-ē-əs n, pl mal·lei -ē-.ī, -ē-.ē the outermost of the chain of three ossicles in the middle ear of a mammal consisting of a head, neck, short process, long process, and handle with the short process and handle being fastened to the tympanic membrane and the head articulating with the head of the incus called also hammer
* * *
n.
a hammer-shaped bone in the middle ear that articulates with the incus and is attached to the eardrum. See ossicle.
* * *
mal·le·us (malґe-əs) [L. “hammerâ€] 1. [TA] the outermost of the auditory ossicles, and the one attached to the membrana tympani; its club-shaped head articulates with the incus. Called also hammer. See illustration at ossicula auditus, under ossiculum. 2. glanders.Medical dictionary. 2011.