a. Anat. [f. Gr. ἐπί upon + οὗς, ὠτ-ός ear + -IC.] Situated above the ear; the distinctive epithet of one of the three bones that together form the periotic bone. Also quasi-sb.
1870. Rolleston, Anim. Life, 44. The uppermost of these, a forked bone, [in the perch] suspends the arch to the squamosal and epiotic bones by its two branches.
1878. Bell, trans. Gegenbaur’s Comp. Anat., 452. The epiotic forms a second piece.
