Definition of "xiphisternum" []

• The posterior and smallest of the three divisions of the sternum, below the gladiolus and the manubrium. Also called xiphoid, xiphoid process. (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.

• "There is a pre-omosternum (o. st.) and a post-omosternum, sometimes termed a xiphisternum (x.)."
• "I immediately thought of pangolins on reading the news about the Tube-lipped nectar bat Anoura fistulata: the pangolin tongue 'roots' on the xiphisternum, a rod-like cartilaginous extension of the breastbone located on the ventral surface of the abdomen."
• "Cut away xiphisternum, and then cut through clavicles and coracoids on either side, and remove ventral part of shoulder girdle, to expose the heart."