Definition of "cribriform" [crib•ri•form]

• Perforated like a sieve. (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.

• "At the top of the nasal passages is a paper-thin bone called the cribriform plate."
• "From there it reaches the brain by passing through a porous barrier called the cribriform plate."
• "This bone is called cribriform (sieve-like), because it is perforated by many minute holes, through which, from the olfactory bulbs"