Definition of "costae" []

• Plural of costa. (noun)

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.

• "The beat of their hearts, the rush of oxygen filling their lungs and even strain in the upper back — the levator costae muscle — could be considered a product of function rather than form."
• "In man and the mammalia the costal arches hold relation with the pulmonary organs, and these costae fail at that region where the ventral organs are located."
• "Intercostal: between veins or costae; usually in the narrow grooves between veins in the costal region of a wing."