Webster's English Dictionary

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cartilage

car.ti.lage \'ka:rt-*l-ij, 'ka:rt-lij\ n [L cartilagin-, cartilago; akin to 
   L cratis wickerwork] 1: a translucent elastic tissue that composes most of 
   the skeleton of the e mbryos and very young of vertebrates and becomes for 
   the most part converted into bone in the higher vertebrates 2: a part or 
   structure composed of cartilage