a. Also 6 scamous, squamus, 8 squammous. [ad. L. squāmōsus, f. squāma SQUAMA. So It. squamoso, Sp. escamoso, OFr. scamoux, scammeux, F. squam(m)eux.]
1. Anat. a. Squamous bone, part, portion, the thin and scaly part of the temporal bone, situated in the temple.
1541. R. Copland, Guydon’s Quest. Chirurg., D iv b. Ye bones that are called Petrous…. Also they be called Scamous…, for they be conioynte in maner of the scales of a fysshe with the sayde parietalles.
1778. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 2), I. 345/2. One [part of the bone] … is called the squamous, or scaly part.
1808. Med. Jrnl., XIX. 395. The Squamous portion of the Temporal Bone.
1842. Penny Cycl., XXII. 79/1. The squamous bone or portion has a roundish form.
1876. Trans. Clinical Soc., IX. 16. The skull narrows, leaving … prominent ridges which mark the junction between the squamous and parietal bones.
b. Of a suture: Formed by thin overlapping parts resembling scales.
1709. Phil. Trans., XXVII. 104. From thence it [the Os Maxilla] runs obliquely backward, and is articulated with the Os Palati by a broad squamous Suture.
1741. A. Monro, Anat. (ed. 3), 73. The Squamous Agglutinations or False Sutures are one of each side, a little above the Ear.
1836. Buckland, Geol. & Min., II. 55. The overlapping, or squamous suture by which the Collar is fitted to the calcareous Sheath of the Siphon.
1866. Huxley, Prehist. Rem. Caithn., 151. The contained cerebral substance could only expand at the sides in the situation of the squamous sutures.
c. (See quot.)
1854. Owen, in Orr’s Circ. Sci., Org. Nat., I. 173. In the cod … most of the bones … have what, in anatomy, is called the ‘squamous’ character and mode of union, being flattened, thinned off at the edge, and overlapping one another.
2. Containing scale-like particles. rare–1.
1547. Boorde, Brev. Health, lxxiii. 23 b. In this matter take good hede that thou do marke a furfurous uryne from a squamus water, and a squamus water from a skaly water.
3. Bot. Furnished or covered with, composed of, squamæ or scales.
1658. Sir T. Browne, Gard. Cyrus, iii. In the squamous heads of Scabious Knapweed,… and in the Scaly composure of the Oak-Rose.
1668. Wilkins, Real Char., 73. Many squamous shining hollow heads hanging upon slender stalks.
1731. P. Miller, Gard. Dict., s.v. Virga, The Calyx (or Flower-cup) is squamous.
1785. Martyn, Lett. Bot. (1794), I. 24. [The root] of the lily is squamous, or composed of scales.
1861. Hulme, trans. Moquin-Tandon, II. III. v. 152. The Squamous Gall, which Reaumur called Artichoke Gall, is … found on the English Oak.
1870. Bentley, Man. Bot. (ed. 2), 182. The bracts are described as squamous or scaly.
4. = SQUAMOSE a. 1.
1668. Wilkins, Real Char., 142. Squamous River Fish.
1747. Gentl. Mag., XVII. 461. Others [sc. squares of skin] irregular and rough, and even squamous, like tubercles.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 218. Blue bellied, squamous lizards, several varieties.
1819. H. Busk, Vestriad, II. 84. The brawny Tritons, with their weedy hair, Their squamous tails, and slimy shoulders bare.
1854. S. P. Woodward, Mollusca, II. 281. The lower valves of some Spondyli are squamous or spiny,—the upper, plain.
5. Of substances: Composed of scales.
a. 1728. Woodward, Fossils, I. 57. The squamous or foliaceous Talc and Mica.
1835–6. Todd’s Cycl. Anat., I. 208/2. He considers each little land as being composed of two substances, one fleshy, which contracts upon drying, the other squamous.
1860. Tanner, Pregnancy, ii. 79. The epithelium of the mucous coat … is of the tessellated or squamous variety.
1872. Huxley, Physiol., xii. 275. Squamous epithelium generally consists of many layers of cells, one over the other.
6. Path. Of skin-diseases: Characterized by the development of scales or laminæ of skin.
1843. R. J. Graves, Syst. Clin. Med., xx. 247, note. A copious eruption often combining the lichenous and the squamous forms.
1875. B. Meadows, Clin. Observ., 60. A squamous eruption, not confined to any particular part, but especially affecting the chest.
1876. Duhring, Dis. Skin, 164. Squamous eczema may be … merely an ephemeral stage of the disease.
Comb. 1891. Moullin, Surg., 139. The fatty change is common … in squamous-celled epitheliomata.
7. Of armor: Scaly, scaled; laminated.
1845. C. H. Smith, in Kitto, Cycl. Bibl. Lit., s.v. Arms, The term … ‘scales,’ in the case of Goliath’s armour, denotes the squamous kind.
1858. Kitto, Daily Bible Illustr., III. 225. The squamous arrangement of the pieces of metal.
Hence Squamously adv.; Squamousness.
1775. Ash, Squamousness, the state of being squamous.
1822. J. Parkinson, Outl. Oryctol., 223. Pecten scabrellus: suborbicular,… squamously denticulated.
