Word Study
pons
WORDNET DICTIONARY
Noun pons has 2 senses
- pons(n = noun.person) alice-josephine pons, lily pons - United States coloratura soprano (born in France) (1904-1976); Array is a kind of coloratura, coloratura soprano
- pons(n = noun.body) pons varolii - a band of nerve fibers linking the medulla oblongata and the cerebellum with the midbrain; Array is a kind of neural structure
is a part of brain-stem, brain stem, brainstem
has parts: respiratory center
CIDE DICTIONARY
pons, n. [L., a bridge.].
A bridge; -- applied to several parts which connect others, but especially to the pons Varolii, a prominent band of nervous tissue situated on the ventral side of the medulla oblongata and connected at each side with the hemispheres of the cerebellum; the mesocephalon. See Brain. [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
pons, n. (pl. pontes) Anat. (in full pons Varolii) the part of the brain stem that links the medulla oblongata and the thalamus.
Idiom
pons asinorum any difficult proposition, orig. a rule of geometry from Euclid ('bridge of asses').
Etymology
L, = bridge: Varolii f. C. Varoli, It. anatomist d. 1575
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