diaphragm

• WordNet 3.6
  • n diaphragm a mechanical device in a camera that controls size of aperture of the lens "the new cameras adjust the diaphragm automatically"
  • n diaphragm electro-acoustic transducer that vibrates to receive or produce sound waves
  • n diaphragm a contraceptive device consisting of a flexible dome-shaped cup made of rubber or plastic; it is filled with spermicide and fitted over the uterine cervix
  • n diaphragm (anatomy) a muscular partition separating the abdominal and thoracic cavities; functions in respiration
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• Interesting fact: The first contraceptive diaphragms, centuries ago, were citrus rinds (i.e., half an orange rind). Casanova used half lemon rinds as a cervical cap and the acidic juice as a potent spremicide(something that kills sperms).
• • Diaphragm (Zoöl) A calcareous plate which divides the cavity of certain shells into two parts.
  • Diaphragm A dividing membrane or thin partition, commonly with an opening through it.
  • Diaphragm (Mach) A partition in any compartment, for various purposes.
  • Diaphragm (Opt) A plate with an opening, which is generally circular, used in instruments to cut off marginal portions of a beam of light, as at the focus of a telescope.
  • Diaphragm (Anat) The muscular and tendinous partition separating the cavity of the chest from that of the abdomen; the midriff.
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• Interesting fact: Three chemicals are used to execute criminals by lethal injection. First, Sodium Thiopental is injected, causing the inmate to fall into a deep sleep. The second chemical agent, Pancuronium Bromide, a muscle relaxer, follows. This causes the inmate to stop breathing due to paralyses of the diaphragm and lungs. Finally, Potassium Chloride is injected, stopping the heart.
• • n diaphragm A partition; something which divides or separates. Specifically
  • n diaphragm In mech.: A thin piece, generally of metal, serving as a partition, or for some other special purpose: as, the vibrating diaphragm of a telephone, for the communication of transmitted sounds, A ring, or a plate pierced with a circular hole so arranged as to fall in the axis of the instrument, used in optical instruments to cut off marginal beams of light, as in a camera or a telescope. Such diaphragms are often made movable, especially for photographic lenses, so that one with a large opening may be inserted when it is desired to admit abundant light to the lens, in order to use a short exposure, and one with a small opening when sharpness of detail is more desirable than shortness of exposure.
  • n diaphragm In anatomy, the midriff; the museulomembranous partition which separates the thoracic from the abdominal cavity in mammals. In man the diaphragm consists of a muscular sheet whose fibers radiate from a trefoil tendinous center to attach themselves to the lower margins of the thorax, and behind form a large bundleon cither side, called pillars of the diaphragm. The diaphragm is pierced by three principal openings: the esophageal, for the passage of the esophagus accompanied by the pneumogastric nerves; the aortic, for the passage of the aorta, thoracic duct, and large azygous vein; and the caval, for the inferior vena cava; besides some others for splanchnic nerves, etc. The diaphragm is invested on its thoracic surface by the pleural and pericardial serous membranes; on its abdominal surface by the peritoneum, a fold of which, reflected upon the liver, forms the suspensory ligament of that organ. The diaphragm is deeply concavo-convex, the convexity upward; the general figure is that of an umbrella. It is a powerful respiratory muscle, contracting at each inspiration and so flattening, while its relaxation in expiration renders it more convex; its contraction also assists in defecation and in parturition, and its spasmodic action is concerned in hiccough and sneezing; when most relaxed it rises to the level of about the fifth rib. A rudimentary diaphragm exists in birds; it is best developed in the apteryx.
  • n diaphragm In cryptogamic botany, in Equisetum, a transverse partition in the stem at the node; in Selaginella and its allies, a layer separating the prothallium from the cavity of the macrospore; in Characeæ, a constriction formed by the enveloping cells near the tip of the oögonium.
  • n diaphragm In conchology, a septum or shelf-like plate extending into the cavity of a shell, more or less partitioning it.
  • n diaphragm A thin ring or plate, pierced with a hole which is usually, but not always, circular. A series of these is attached to the inside of the tube of a telescope or other optical instrument for the purpose of preventing reflections of light from the inner walls of the tube.
  • n diaphragm A sheet or disk of flexible material, confined at the edges, but free to yield to pressure on one side or the other: used in regulating-devices where pressure is one element, and to operate valves by a pressure from a distance.
  • n diaphragm In tunnel-work, a partition separating the working-face from the first chamber.
  • n diaphragm In statistical mechanics, a portion of space, separating two ensembles of systems of molecules, such that there is no interchange of particles between the two.
  • n diaphragm In pathology, a membranous structure which partly or completely closes the lumen of a tube or cavity: as, inherited diaphragm of the larynx.
  • diaphragm To interpose in the path of a beam of light, or in the field of an optical instrument, a screen containing an aperture; specifically, in photography, to reduce the aperture of an objective by the use of a diaphragm.
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• • n Diaphragm dī′a-fram a thin partition or dividing membrane: the midriff, a structure separating the chest from the abdomen: a metal plate with a central hole, for cutting off side-rays in a camera, &c
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