acetabulum Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun the cup-shaped hollow in the hipbone into which the head of the femur fits to form a ball-and-socket joint
cotyloid cavity.

L., a little saucer for vinegar, fr. acetum vinegar, fr. acere to be sour.

(Rom. Antiq.) A vinegar cup; socket of the hip bone; a measure of about one eighth of a pint, etc.
(Anat.) (a) The bony cup which receives the head of the thigh bone. (b) The cavity in which the leg of an insect is inserted at its articulation with the body. (c) A sucker of the sepia or cuttlefish and related animals. (d) The large posterior sucker of the leeches. (e) One of the lobes of the placenta in ruminating animals.