pretympanicn.adj.

1846 R. Owen Lect. Compar. Anat. Vertebr. Animals 112 By the confluence of the meso-tympanic with the epi-tympanic, and of the pre-tympanic with the hypo-tympanic, in the Eel tribe, the suspensory pedicle of the lower jaw is reduced to two pieces.

1851 C. Girard Contrib. Nat. Hist. Fresh Water Fishes N. Amer. in Smithsonian Contrib. Knowl. (1852) 3 iii.15 The vault of the palate is formed by three bones..constituting an arcade, which rests behind on the hypotympanic and pretympanic.

1880 A. Günther Introd. Study of Fishes iii. 55 The next bone of the series is the pretympanic or metapterygoid, a flat bone forming a bridge towards the pterygoid.

1875 T. H. Huxley & H. N. Martin Course Elem. Biol. 29 A smaller pretympanic, which may represent the chorda tympani, and a larger post-tympanic or hyoid nerve.

1885 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 176 193 Beneath the upper lobe, there is a lanceolate, almost distinct tract..and in front of this..there is an elegant..pretympanic sickle of bone.

1943 Proc. Royal Soc. B. 131 408 Failure of the dorsal tympanic recess..would leave the chorda tympani in a pretympanic position.

1990 European Arch. Oto-rhino-laryngol. 247 56 In the pretympanic region cartilage was found in 34.6% of the infants' eustachian tubes and in 25% of the adults'.

2005 Otolaryngol.–Head & Neck Surg. 33 1/2 This area was localized anterosuperior to the pretympanic recess of the tympanic cavity.