lobe

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   (anatomy) a somewhat rounded subdivision of a bodily organ or part

   Ear lobe.

2. 2
   noun

   Any projection or division, especially one of a somewhat rounded form.

   A lobe of lava was crawling down the side of the volcano.

3. 3
   noun

   A clear division of an organ that can be determined at the gross anatomy level, especially one of the parts of the brain, liver or lung.

   The yawning gap in neuroscientists’ understanding of their topic is in the intermediate scale of the brain’s anatomy. Science has a passable knowledge of how individual nerve cells, known as neurons, work. It also knows which visible lobes and ganglia of the brain do what. But how the neurons are organised in these lobes and ganglia remains obscure.

4. 4
   noun

   a rounded projection that is part of a larger structure

From Middle French lobe in early 16th century, from New Latin lobus (“a lobe”), from Ancient Greek λοβός (lobós, “the lobe of the ear or of the liver, the pod of a leguminous plant”).

Topics