Lexic.us

Definition of Exoskeleton

1. Noun. The exterior protective or supporting structure or shell of many animals (especially invertebrates) including bony or horny parts such as nails or scales or hoofs.

Definition of Exoskeleton

1. n. The hardened parts of the external integument of an animal, including hair, feathers, nails, horns, scales, etc.,as well as the armor of armadillos and many reptiles, and the shells or hardened integument of numerous invertebrates; external skeleton; dermoskeleton.

Definition of Exoskeleton

1. Noun. (anatomy) A hard outer structure that provides both structure and protection to creatures such as insects and Crustacea. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Exoskeleton

1. [n -S]

Medical Definition of Exoskeleton

1. A skeleton, or support structure, which supports the organisms body from the outside and is formed from the ectoderm. All arthropods (spiders, insects, crustaceans, horseshoe crabs, etc.) possess one. Compare: endoskeleton. Any structure that is formed from the ectoderm in vertebrates, like nails, claws, hair, fur, horns, or teeth. (Note: does not include skin, which is an organ.) (09 Oct 1997)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Exoskeleton

Literary usage of Exoskeleton

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Human Body: An Account of Its Structure and Activities and the by Henry Newell Martin (1881)
"exoskeleton and Endoskeleton. The skeleton of an animal includes all its hard protecting ... First as an exoskeleton developed in connection with either the ..."

2. A Text-book of Biology for Students in General, Medical and Technical Courses by William Martin Smallwood (1918)
"Wherever there is a joint this exoskeleton is thin and flexible, ... To allow,this increase in size the whole of the exoskeleton is shed and the process is ..."

3. The Elementary Principles of General Biology by James Francis Abbott (1914)
"exoskeleton. — In many of the simpler forms of animal life, instead of an internal ... Many of the vertebrates that do not require an exoskeleton for ..."

4. Comparative Anatomy of Vertebrates by Robert Wiedersheim (1907)
"exoskeleton. THE hard exoskeleton, consisting of bone or of other calcified tissues, must be distinguished from the horny exoskeletal parts already ..."

5. The History of the human body by Harris Hawthorne Wilder (1909)
"CHAPTER IV THE INTEGUMENT AND THE exoskeleton " Seit Huxley seine Schrift ' Zeugnisse fur die Stel- lung des Menschen in der Natur' veroffentlicht hat, ..."

6. Elementary Text-book of Zoology by K[arl] Claus, F. G. Heathcote, Carl F. Claus (1884)
"... or horny structures (nails, claws, hoofs), which may form a more or less complete coat for the body and function as protective exoskeleton (fig. ..."

7. A Manual of Zoology by Thomas Jeffery Parker, William Aitcheson Haswell (1905)
"... An exoskeleton is formed by the thickening and hardening of portions of one or other of the layers of the integument, — cuticle, epidermis, or dermis. ..."

Other Resources: