Definition of "turbinate" []

• Shaped like a top. (adjective)
• Spinning like a top. (adjective)
• Zoology Spiral and decreasing sharply in diameter from base to apex. Used especially of shells. (adjective)
• Anatomy Of, relating to, or designating a small curved bone that extends horizontally along the lateral wall of the nasal passage in higher vertebrates. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "But some North Texans are finding instant relief in a quick, relatively inexpensive office procedure called turbinate coblation."
• "For there are those with turbinate shells, of which some have just been mentioned; and, besides these, there are bivalves and univalves."
• "This shell, as already has been said, may have one valve, or two valves, or be turbinate."