Definition of "pons" [pons]

• A slender tissue joining two parts of an organ. (noun)
• A band of nerve fibers on the ventral surface of the brain stem that links the medulla oblongata and the cerebellum with upper portions of the brain. Also called pons Varolii. (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 office of the pontifex was originally that of building and keeping custody of the bridges of the city, the name being derived from the Latin word pons, which signifies bridge."
• "The rest of the dorsal part of the pons is a continuation upward of the formatio reticularis of the medulla oblongata, and, like it, presents the appearance of a network, in the meshes of which are numerous nerve cells."
• "A blood clot had formed in a part of their son's brain stem called the pons, causing a stroke right at the juncture where his body met his mind."