ˈyüd.ərəs, -ütər- noun
( plural uteri -əˌrī)
Etymology: Latin, womb, belly; perhaps akin to Greek hoderos belly, Sanskrit udara
1. : an organ in female mammals for containing and usually for nourishing the young during development previous to birth that consists of a greatly modified and enlarged section of an oviduct or of the two oviducts united, that has thick walls consisting of an external serous coat, a very thick muscular coat of nonstriated muscle, and a mucous coat containing numerous glands, and that during pregnancy undergoes remarkable increase in size and change in the condition of its walls : womb — compare cervix , fallopian tube , placenta
2.
a. : a section or diverticulum of an oviduct of any of various vertebrate or invertebrate animals other than the mammals that is enlarged or modified to serve as a place of development of the eggs or of the young
b. : the glandular part of the oviduct that secretes the eggshell