Pl. canaliculi. [a. L. canāliculus, dim. of canālis pipe, groove, channel. The 16th-c. plurals in -icoli, -icolos in Shute appear due to an It. canalicolo.]
† 1. Arch. A groove, fluting, channel. (See CANAL and CHANNEL.) Obs.
1563. Shute, Arch., C iij a. If your pillor shall haue Canaliculos. Ibid., C iij b. The Canalicoli, standing vpright within the Triglyphi. Ibid., D iij b. If this piller be garnished and filled with Canaliculi.
2. Phys. A small canal or duct; applied esp. to the minute tubes connecting the lacunæ in the bones, and to the lachrymal canals connecting each lachrymal sac with the eye-lids.
[1727–51. Chambers, Cycl., Canalis or Canaliculus arteriosus.]
1854. J. Hogg, Microsc., I. ii. (1867), 67. The lacunæ and canaliculi of bone-structure.
1875. H. Walton, Dis. Eye, 471. The division of a canaliculus.
