The Latin word for ‘girdle, belt’ [f. root of cingĕre to gird], occasionally used as a technical term for a. The girdle of a priest’s alb. b. A surgical cincture or girdle; also the part of the body round which a girdle is worn, the waist. c. Anat. A band of dental substance surrounding the base of the crown of the tooth in some animals. d. Zool. The transverse series of bony bands in the armor of the armadillo. e. The clitellum or band of higher-colored rings in the body of earthworms.
1847. Craig, Cingulum, in Zoology, a term applied to the neck of a tooth, or that constriction which separates the crown from the fang.
1856–8. W. Clark, Van der Hoeven’s Zool., I. 231. Clitellum or cingulum, i.e. a tumid fleshy glandular zone.
1873. Mivart, Elem. Anat., 264. A ‘band’ of dental substance (termed the cingulum) may surround the tooth.
1877. Coues, Fur Anim., vii. 205. A simple conical cusp, two-rooted, with … a well-marked cingulum.
1877. Huxley, Anat. Inv. Anim., v. 221. Receives the name of cingulum or clitellum.
