noun
also pituitary body
Etymology: so called from the former belief that it secreted nasal mucus
: a small oval reddish gray very vascular endocrine organ attached to the infundibulum of the brain and occupying the sella turcica that is present in all craniate vertebrates and consists essentially of an epithelial anterior lobe derived from a diverticulum of the oral cavity joined by a pars intermedia to a posterior lobe of nervous origin with the several parts being associated with various internal secretions including substances that exert a controlling and regulating influence on other endocrine organs, others concerned with growth and development, and some modifying the contraction of smooth muscle, renal function, and reproduction and directly or indirectly impinging on most basic body functions — called also hypophysis ; see neurohypophysis; brain illustration