suture
    n 1: an immovable joint (especially between the bones of the
         skull) [syn: suture, sutura, fibrous joint]
    2: a seam used in surgery [syn: suture, surgical seam]
    3: thread of catgut or silk or wire used by surgeons to stitch
       tissues together
    v 1: join with a suture; "suture the wound after surgery"

Suture \Su"ture\, n. [L. sutura, fr. suere, sutum, to sew or
   stitch: cf. F. suture. See Sew to unite with thread.]
   1. The act of sewing; also, the line along which two things
      or parts are sewed together, or are united so as to form a
      seam, or that which resembles a seam.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. (Surg.)
      (a) The uniting of the parts of a wound by stitching.
      (b) The stitch by which the parts are united.
          [1913 Webster]

   3. (Anat.) The line of union, or seam, in an immovable
      articulation, like those between the bones of the skull;
      also, such an articulation itself; synarthrosis. See
      Harmonic suture, under Harmonic.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. (Bot.)
      (a) The line, or seam, formed by the union of two margins
          in any part of a plant; as, the ventral suture of a
          legume.
      (b) A line resembling a seam; as, the dorsal suture of a
          legume, which really corresponds to a midrib.
          [1913 Webster]

   5. (Zool.)
      (a) The line at which the elytra of a beetle meet and are
          sometimes confluent.
      (b) A seam, or impressed line, as between the segments of
          a crustacean, or between the whorls of a univalve
          shell.
          [1913 Webster]

   Glover's suture, Harmonic suture, etc. See under
      Glover, Harmonic, etc.
      [1913 Webster]