Definition of "anchylose" [an•chy•lose]

• Variant of ankylose. (verb)

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.

• "In all birds, on the contrary, not only is there no motion between the ankle-bones (as a whole) and the shin-bone, but the two rows of ankle-bones actually anchylose respectively with adjacent parts -- the row nearer the leg coming to form one with the shin-bone; the second row coming to form one with the bones of the foot."
• "The same thing to a less degree takes place in reptiles; the ankle-bones do not indeed anchylose with the shin-bone and foot respectively, but they nevertheless unite with those parts so firmly that motion takes place between the bones of the ankle and not between the whole ankle and the leg."