vaginal process

vaginal process (plural vaginal processes)

1. (anatomy, now rare) A projecting lamina of bone on the inferior surface of the petrous portion of the temporal bone that is continuous with the tympanic plate and surrounds the base of the styloid process.
2. (embryology) An outpouching of peritoneum through the inguinal canal, from which the serous membrane (tunica vaginalis) covering the testicle is derived.
3. (anatomy) Either of a pair of projecting plates on the inferior surface of the sphenoid bone which articulate with the alae of the vomer.

• “vaginal process”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “vaginal process”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.