abdominaladj.n.
/abˈdɒmᵻnl/, /əbˈdɒmᵻnl/, U.S. /æbˈdɑmən(ə)l/, /əbˈdɑmən(ə)l/ A. adj.
1. Anatomy and Zoology. Of or relating to the abdomen (abdomen n. 1); located on or in the abdomen.abdominal rib: see rib n.1 1d.
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the world > life > the body > external parts of body > trunk > front > belly or abdomen > [adjective]
bellied?c1475
abdominal1650
ventral1817
belly-like1849
ventrinea1859
1650 W. Charleton tr. J. B. van Helmont Deliramenta Catarrhi 52 Vain and uselesse would the contrivement of nature be, and her architecture imperfect in superfluity, in making the abdominal muscles.
1694 I. Turner in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 18 16 The Blood in the Abdominal Vessels, had been stagniz'd for some time past.
1746 R. James in Moffett & Bennet's Health's Improvem. (new ed.) Introd. 8 The perpetual Compressure of the Stomach, and all the abdominal Viscera.
1788 B. Bell Syst. Surg. (ed. 2) V. xxxvi. 241 Besides the several viscera which we have mentioned, the aorta, vena-cava, and the large blood-vessels and nerves which supply the bowels, lie all within the abdominal cavity.
1838 Brit. Cycl. VI. 247/1 The abdominal fins [in Aulopus] are placed immediately under the pectorals, having their external rays very large.
1879 New Sydenham Soc. Lexicon (at cited word) In man the respiration is said to be abdominal, in woman thoracic.
1916 Surg., Gynecol. & Obstetr. 16 204/1 Osler's three cases were of sarcoma due to a retained abdominal testis.
1967 Canad. Med. Assoc. Jrnl. 23 Sept. 807/1 In November 1950 he became acutely ill with severe abdominal pain and vomiting.
2007 Independent 30 Jan. 6/3 The beer belly is the colloquial term for abdominal obesity.
2. Zoology. Of, relating to, or located on the abdomen of an arthropod (see abdomen n. 2).
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > [adjective] > of parts of > belonging or attached to abdomen
abdominal1758
1758 T. Flloyd & J. Hill tr. J. Swammerdam Bk. Nature ii. 23/1 There appear two crooked little claws, whose business it is to grapple, and firmly hold, during the act of copulation, the lowest abdominal rings of the female Butterfly.
1817 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. II. xvii. 77 This species..borrowing the abdominal squama from the former [genus], and the sting from the latter.
1874 J. Lubbock Orig. & Metamorphoses Insects i. 7 Like caterpillars, having three pairs of legs and in the former case abdominal pro-legs as well.
1877 T. H. Huxley Man. Anat. Invertebrated Animals vi. 346 Cynthia has its branchial appendages attached to the abdominal members.
1947 A. D. Imms Outl. Entomol. (ed. 3) iv. 152 The social bees..produce wax for comb-building: it is delivered as a secretion of glands located between the plates of the abdominal segments.
2003 A. Leroy & J. Leroy Spiders S. Afr. ii. 15 Spiders..possess abdominal silk glands, and usually have three pairs of spinnerets from which the silk is extruded.
3. Zoology. Designating the (former) division Abdominales of bony fishes (see Abdominales n.); belonging to this division. Now rare.
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the world > animals > fish > class Osteichthyes or Teleostomi > subclass Actinopterygii > subdivision Teleostei > [adjective] > having ventral fins under belly
abdominal1769
1769 T. Pennant Brit. Zool. (new ed.) III. iv. 31 It is from the last [sc. the work of Linnæus] I have copied the great sections of the Bony Fish into Apodal, Jugular, Thoracic, Abdominal.
1835 W. Kirby On Power of God in Creation of Animals I. ii. 113 The herring..belongs to the tribe called abdominal fishes, or those whose ventral fins are behind the pectoral.
1847 W. B. Carpenter Zool.: Systematic Acct. II. §573 [These] have greater facility of ascending and descending than the abdominal fishes.
1854 C. D. Badham Prose Halieutics 235 That grand ichthyological section called abdominal, of which the leading feature is to have the belly-fins suspended behind the pectorals or side-fins.
1925 P. Radin & V. C. C. Collum tr. E. Perrier Earth before Hist. ii. vi. 154 They [sc. deep-sea fish] belong to well-known groups—most commonly to the type of ‘abdominal’ or physostomous Fish.
1992 A. Bell tr. M. Toussaint-Samat Hist. Food x. 317 The herring is an abdominal malacopterygian (soft-finned fish) of the Clupeidae family.
B. n.† 1. A fish belonging to the (former) division Abdominales. Obsolete.
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1765 London Mag. Mar. 116/1 These Gold and Silver fish belong to the class of abdominals, or fish which have fins under the belly.
1821 Jrnl. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 2 i. 8 The Flying-fish are distinguished among the abdominals by the uncommon magnitude of their pectoral fins.
1861 New Amer. Cycl. IX. 448/2 The malacopterygians are divided into abdominals, sub-brachians, and apodes.
2. Zoology. A fin, scale, body segment, etc., located in the abdominal region or on the ventral surface of the body.
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the world > animals > fish > parts of fish > [noun] > fin or parts of fin > ventral
ventral fin1752
ventral1834
abdominal1838
1838 Brit. Cycl. VI. 247/1 Aulopus—‘pipe-fin,’ in allusion to the large external rays of the abdominals.
1876 Philos. Trans. 1875 (Royal Soc.) 165 277 All the plates of the sternum, with the exception of the pectorals and abdominals, are striated like the dorsal plates.
1900 E. D. Cope Crocodilians, Lizards & Snakes N. Amer. Rep. U.S. National Mus. 1898 i. 568 Hind leg shorter, reaching meatus auditorius; anal scales continuous with abdominals.
1939 Trans. Amer. Microsc. Soc. 58 232 The venter of abdominals 9 and 10 is beset on either side of the ovipositor with small supine setae.
1981 Herpetologica 37 78/2 Loss of set 5 scales (abdominals).
2009 C. H. Ernst & J. E. Lovich Turtle U.S. & Canada 10 Anteriorly lies a pair of gular scutes... Paired humerals, pectorals, abdominals, femorals, and anals follow.
3. Any of the muscles forming the wall of the abdomen; (in later use) esp. the rectus abdominis. Usually in plural.
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the world > life > the body > structural parts > muscle > muscles of specific parts > [noun] > muscles of abdomen
longitudinal?a1425
latitudinal?1541
pyramidalis1615
rectus abdominis1680
abdominal1854
ab1956
tummy muscle1974
1854 L. B. Chase Eng. Serfdom & Amer. Slavery viii. 80 The drayman,..having encircled the neck of his antagonist with one arm, was poking sundry blows with the doubled-up end of the other, into the abdominals of Mr. Spriggins.
1889 Phrenol. Jrnl. & Sci. Health 39 275/2 With well developed abdominals and strongly defined rectus, the middle of the man would delight a student of artistic anatomy.
1935 Child Devel. 6 273/2 As the children made use of a low board swing, it was found that use of all trunk muscles took place, especially the abdominals.
1956 Muscle Power Mar. 40/2 Lunch time finds him exercising his legs and calves and abdominals at the Weider Gym.
2003 Ace June 53/2 For the torso and abdominals, El Aynaoui does 50 push-ups, 50 sit-ups and 10 sets of 30 roll-overs.
4. A surgical operation on the abdomen; (also) (a case of) an abdominal wound or condition requiring surgery. Now rare.
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the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > surgery > operations on specific parts or conditions > [noun] > abdominal operations
gastrostomy1854
gastrotomy1876
laparotomy1879
cœliotomy1881
abdominal1885
gastrectomy1886
ventrotomy1887
1885 L. Tait in Q. Epitome 24 499 This is the first case I have ever seen in a practice which now extends over twenty-five years and which includes forty operations upon the kidney and more than twelve hundred abdominals.
1892 Amer. Practitioner & News 13 365/2 Most of his recent abdominals were done in an elegantly prepared operating-room.
1911 Clin. Jrnl. 38 349/1 It will be well now to mention a few important points that apply to all acute abdominals.
1932 R. Kipling Limits & Renewals 358 It was the trephining work that had stuck on his mental retina. (Odd! It used to be abdominals with me.)
1940 Lancet 12 Oct. 445/1 These cases included burns,..early head wounds and penetrating abdominals.
Compounds
abdominal belt n. any of various types of belt that surround, support, or compress the abdomen.
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1828 Bury & Norwich Post 5 Mar. 1/4 (advt.) Elastic abdominal belts, for umbilical Hernia, and well adapted for Ladies prior and subsequent to their Confinement.
1909 H. G. Wells Tono-Bungay (U.K. ed.) iii. ii. 334 Going about making love indeed!—in abdominal belts!—at his time of life!
2005 R. Sharma Exercise Managem. Guide xxiv. 207 There are instances of disc prolapse..amongst young boys who start lifting heavy weights without wearing an abdominal belt.
abdominal crunch n. a physical exercise similar to a sit-up in which the head and shoulders are raised slightly off the ground from a supine position.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > gymnastics > exercise > [noun] > specific exercises
breathing1605
breather1802
arm swing1859
setting-up drill1862
grasshopper march1884
lunge1889
push-up1897
sit-up1900
pull-up1901
deep-breathing1904
bag-punching1927
press-up1928
setting-up exercise1935
pullover1936
bear crawl1937
burpee1939
knee-bend1941
leg raise1944
dip1945
uddiyana1949
squat thrust1950
lateral1954
pull-down1956
aquacise1968
step-up1973
abdominal crunch1981
power walking1982
crunch1983
gut-buster1983
stomach crunch1986
1981 Altoona (Pa.) Mirror 7 Dec. 27/1 (advt.) 12 in 1 super home gym... 3. Abdominal Crunch.
2002 Esquire May 83/2 The best prescription: exercise, in the form of fifteen minutes of daily back stretches and abdominal crunches.
abdominal leg n. Zoology (a) (in various invertebrates) a leg attached to the abdomen; (b) Entomology a fleshy appendage of an abdominal segment of a caterpillar or other insect larva; = proleg n.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > eggs or young > [noun] > young or development of young > larva > parts of > fleshy abdominal limb
proleg1817
abdominal leg1819
proped1842
1819 G. Samouelle Entomologist's Compend. 75 Six thoracic legs and no abdominal legs... Insecta.
1827 R. T. Gore tr. C. G. Carus Introd. Compar. Anat. Animals I. 106 In Caterpillars there is in addition to these a variable number of abdominal legs, which consist of a kind of fleshy sucker.
1915 Science 29 Oct. 619/2 The females [of the crab Cancer magister] lay in the fall from three quarters to one and a half million eggs, which are carried attached to the abdominal legs until they hatch.
1959 Bios 30 97 The caterpillar is the eating-growing phase,—the somatic organism, with stubby, crawling true legs, and fleshy, temporary, abdominal legs, mandibulate mouthparts,..and no reproductive organs.
2005 M. W. Kirschner & J. C. Gerhart Plausibility of Life ii. 65 Legs on the thorax became longer and differentiated, and the abdominal legs were suppressed entirely in the adult.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2011; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adj.n.1650