artery

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In this course, the artery is accompanied by the vein, H K O, which, according to the region in which it lies, assumes different names, corresponding to those applied to the artery.

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Definitions (25)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun Anatomy Any of the muscular elastic tubes that form a branching system and that carry blood away from the heart to the cells, tissues, and organs of the body.
  2. noun A major route of transportation into which local routes flow. See Synonyms at way.
  3. Word History
    The changed meaning of the word artery provides a glimpse into the history of medical science. The word is derived from the ancient Greek artēriā, a word originally applied to any of the vessels that emanated from the chest cavity, including arteries, veins, and the bronchial tubes. The difference in the functions of these vessels was not yet known; because they were all empty in cadavers, early anatomists supposed they all carried air. As medical knowledge advanced, however, students of anatomy realized that arteries carry blood and only the windpipe and bronchial tubes carry air. To specify the windpipe, they coined the phrase artēriā trakheia, "rough artery,” referring to its rough cartilaginous structure. The adjective trakheia, "rough,” entered modern English as trachea, the current medical term for the windpipe.

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Examples (50)

  • The connection of the deep fascia to that muscle must then be very carefully scraped through, and by tracing the muscle to its insertion to the first rib, the artery is at once reached, lying behind the insertion. —  A Manual of the Operations of Surgery For the Use of Senior Students, House Surgeons, and Junior Practitioners
  • The transverse perineal artery, which is always cut in the operation, is small, and rarely bleeds much. —  A Manual of the Operations of Surgery For the Use of Senior Students, House Surgeons, and Junior Practitioners
  • The artery, K, lies close to the outer side of the vein; and external to the artery is seen, L, the anterior crural nerve, sending off its superficial and deep branches When a femoral hernia protrudes at the saphenous space L h, Pl. 28, the dense falciform process, h, embraces its outer side, while the pubic portion of the fascia, L, lies beneath it. —  Surgical Anatomy
  • In this course, the artery is accompanied by the vein, H K O, which, according to the region in which it lies, assumes different names, corresponding to those applied to the artery. —  Surgical Anatomy
  • The steps of the operation performed at the situation W, where the artery is about to pass beneath the sartorius, are these: an incision of sufficient length--from two to three inches--is to be made over the course of the vessel, so as to divide the skin and adipose membrane, and expose the fascia lata, through which the inner edge of the sartorius muscle becomes now readily discernible. —  Surgical Anatomy
 

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Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English arterie, from Latin artēria, from Greek artēriā, windpipe, artery; see wer-1 in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English arterie (early modern English also arter, artere, artier, arture, etc., from Old French artere, modern F. artére = Provencal Spanish Portuguese Italian arteria), from Latin arteria, the windpipe, an artery, from Greek ἀρτηρία, an artery as distinct from a vein; but commonly the arteries were regarded as air-ducts (the name being supposed to come from ἀήρ, air), because found empty after death, and seem to have been conceived as ramifications of the windpipe; orig. the windpipe; perhaps from αἰρειν, ἀείρειν, raise, lift up; cf. aorta, from the same source.
  2. from artery, n.
 

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/ˈɑrtəri/
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