Definition of "stapes" [‖Sta•pes]

• The innermost of the three small bones of the middle ear, shaped somewhat like a stirrup. Also called stirrup. (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.

• "Now, if you can see where the pointer is pointing here on this upper right diagram, this long structure here with a big hole in the middle is called the stapes, and this is an ear bone that connects up to the eardrum in the inner ear, this little funny snail shaped thing, this bone, the stapes, has been in animals ever since they came out on land."
• "The incus moves with the malleus and passes on the vibrations to the third bone, which is shaped like a tiny stirrup (with an opening not much larger than the eye of a needle) and therefore called the stapes (sta/peez; "stirrup" L)."
• "THE INTERNAL EAR On the other side of the oval window covered by the stapes is the vestibule referred to on page 248."