suture

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   an immovable fibrous joint, especially the seam between bones of the skull

   The skull suture remains flexible during early development and gradually hardens.

2. 2
   noun

   a stitch or row of stitches used to close a wound or join body tissue

   The surgeon placed a fine suture along the edge of the incision.

3. 3
   verb

   to close a wound or join tissue with stitches

   The doctor sutured the cut after cleaning it thoroughly.

From Middle English suture and Latin sutura, 'a seam or sewing,' from suere, 'to sew.' Anatomy applied the sewing metaphor both to surgical stitches and to the seamlike fibrous joints between bones.

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