isthmus
UK /ˈɪsθ.məs/ · US /ˈɪs.məs/ noun
Forms isthmuses isthmi
- noun (geography) A narrow strip of land, bordered on both sides by water, and connecting two larger landmasses.
- noun (anatomy, botany) Any such narrow part connecting two larger structures.
- noun (graph theory) An edge in a graph whose deletion increases the number of connected components of the graph.
Synonyms
Etymology
Borrowing from Latin isthmus (“a strip of land between two seas”), from Ancient Greek ῐ̓σθμός (ĭsthmós, “neck, narrow passage”), possibly from εἶμῐ (eîmĭ, “to go”). Cognate to Old Norse eið (“isthmus”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A neck or narrow slip of land by which two continents are connected, or by which a peninsula is united to the mainland; as, the Isthmus of Panama; the Isthmus of Suez, etc. Isthmus of the fauces.
Etymology [L. isthmus, Gr. 'isqmo`s a neck, a neck of land between two seas, an isthmus, especially the Isthmus of Corinth; prob. from the root of 'ie`nai to go; cf. Icel. eiedh isthmus. See Issue.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “isthmus”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details