patella

(pat-el’ah) (L. “pan”]. The knee-cap, or knee-pan; a lens-shaped sesamoid bone situated in the front of the knee, in the tendon of the quadriceps extensor femoris muscle. floating p., a patella which is floated up from the condyles by a large effusion in the knee. riders’ painful p., tenderne and pain in the patella of horseback riders.