from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- n. One of two usually paired processes of the neural arch of a vertebra that articulates with corresponding parts of adjacent vertebrae.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. One of the articular processes of a vertebra, of which there are usually four, two superior and two inferior.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. One of the articular processes of a vertebra, of which there are usually four, two anterior and two posterior. See under vertebra.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A process upon the neural arch of a vertebra corresponding to that called oblique or articular in human anatomy, provided with a facet for articulation with the same process of a preceding or succeeding vertebra, thus serving to interlock the series of vertebral arches.
N, neural spine; H, hypapophysial spine; z, zygapophysis; t, transverse process; 1, dorsal series of cones; 2, upper lateral series of cones; 3, lower series of cones; ventral series of cones. separating membranes and subsequent splitting up of the muscular mass into super-imposed sheets of differently-directed fibres.
The series of Fig. 33 -- The Axis Vertebra of Man. c, centrum; s, neural spine; d, tubercular process; p, capitular process; a, anterior articular surface for atlas; z, post-zygapophysis; o, odontoid process; hy, median vertical ridge beneath centrum. bodies (or centra) occupy the position which was at first filled by the primitive notochord, the rest of the vertebral rings having been formed in the sides and roof of the canal formed by the upgrowth and union of the two sides of the primitive groove of the embryo.