a. [a. mod.L. crībriform-is sieve-shaped; see prec. and -FORM.] Having the form or appearance of a sieve; perforated with numerous small holes; esp. in cribriform plate, the bony plate forming the front part of the ethmoid bone, through which the olfactory nerves pass to the nasal cavity.
1741. Monro, Anat. Bones (ed. 3), 80. The cribriform part of the Os Ethmoides.
1847. Youatt, Horse, vi. 118. The cribriform or sieve-shaped plate … perforated by a multitude of little holes, through which the nerve connected with smelling passes and spreads over the nose.
1880. Gray, Struct. Bot., iii. § 3. 77. Cribriform or Sieve-cells, a sort of ducts the walls of which have open slits, through which they communicate with each other.
