Forms: 5–7 vuula, 6 uuula, 6–7 vvula, 7– uvula; 6 euuela, uuila, vuola, vuala. [a. med.L. ūvula (whence Sp. and Pg. uvula, It. uvola, ugola, OF. uvule, uvele, huvele UVULE), dim. of L. ūva UVA.]
1. Anat. The conical fleshy prolongation hanging from the middle of the pendent margin of the soft palate in man and some other primates.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 261. Aboue þis instrument is vuula þat is þe palet of þe mouþ & helpiþ for to make soun. Ibid. Sumtyme vuula wexiþ to long.
1525. trans. Jerome of Brunswick’s Surg., B ii/2. Tonge, rowfe, and vuula, ye whiche is a lytell deme hangynge in ye throte lyke the spynne.
1569. Androse, Alexis’ Bk. Med., III. 33. Against the falling of the Vuola, and swelling of the Pallate.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 495. Good and ready helpes for the sorenes of the vuula which is in the Horses mouthes.
c. 1645. Howell, Lett., II. i. (1650), 1. The same defluxion … fell … into my throat in Oxford, and distilling upon the uvula impeached my utterance a little.
1676. Wiseman, Surg., IV. vii. 333. An Elongation of the Uvula through the abundance of salivous Humour flowing upon it.
1705. Phil. Trans., XXV. 1984. The Uvula … is moved by three pair of Muscles.
1724. Ramsay, Health, 183. When th’ uvula has got its mortal wound.
1753. Torriano, Gangr. Sore Throat, 4. After having examin’d her, they found the Uvula much lengthened.
1805. Med. Jrnl., XIV. 150. On inspecting the throat, the tonsils and uvula were not observably altered.
1831. R. Knox, Cloquet’s Anat., 597. The uvula … forms the inferior edge of the velum palati into a double arch.
1866. Huxley, Physiol., vi. 146. The soft palate, or velum—the middle of which is produced into a prolongation, the uvula.
1902. Hughes & Keith, Man. Pract. Anat., III. 368. The uvula is connected with each tonsil by the furrowed band, to be seen when the uvula is pulled gently aside.
b. A small eminence forming the apex of the trigone, and projecting into the urethral orifice.
1835–6. Todd’s Cycl. Anat., I. 386/1. The uvula in the child is the most depending part of the bladder.
1861. Sir. H. Thompson, Dis. Prostate (ed. 2), 7. The mucous membrane and submucous tissues around the internal meatus, particularly those forming the uvula or luette vesicale. Ibid., 26. A faint whitish line directly in front of the uvula.
c. A lobe or triangular elevation situated between the two tonsils of the cerebellum.
1848. Dunglison, Med. Lex. (ed. 7), 887. The inferior vermiform process … consisting of three portions—the pyramid, the uvula, and the nodulus.
† 2. ellipt. Inflammation of the uvula; uvulitis.
1539. Elyot, Cast. Helthe (1541), 69 b. Whereby are ingendred Catarres or reumes, the uuula, the cough, and the stytche.
1570. T. Wilson, Demosth. Orat., Life, 133. Troubled with the Vvula being a swelling in the throte.
3. attrib. and Comb., esp. in the names of surgical instruments for operating on the uvula, as uvula elevator, scissors, spoon, etc.; also uvula-cushion (see quot. 1884); uvula trill (see quot. 1908); † uvula-wort, the nettle-leaved bell-flower, Campanula Trachelium.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, II. ii. 366. [It] is called … in English … Throtewoort or Vuula woort, of the vertue it hath against the paine and swelling thereof.
1678. Phillips (ed. 4), Uvula-spoon … is an Instrument to be held right under the Uvula.
1710. [see UVULAR a. 1].
1728. Bradley, Dict. Bot., s.v., Uvula Wort; see Throat-wort.
1869. Ellis, E. E. Pronunc., I. 8. R r uvula trill, F. r provençal or grasseyé. Ibid., 198. A sharp uvula rattle without any moisture.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 2685/2. Uvula-scissors with claws.
1876. trans. Ziemssen’s Cycl. Pract. Med., IV. 43. The instrument … called the uvula-holder. Ibid., 67. A uvula elevator.
1884. M. Mackenzie, Dis. Throat & Nose, II. 253. Beneath the septum the base of the uvula containing the azygos muscle forms a slight projection, called the ‘uvula-cushion.’
1895. Arnold & Sons Catal. Surg. Instrum., p. xlv. Uvula Hook, Scissors, Twitch.
1908. Sweet, Sounds of English, 40. The ‘burred r’ is a uvula-trill; the uvula … is driven upwards by the force of the outgoing air [etc.].
