Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A vein.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In anatomy, a vein. See vein
  • noun The superior or descending vena cava returns the blood from the head and neck, the upper limbs, and the whole of the thorax. It is formed by the junction of the right and left innominate veins, behind the junction of the first costal cartilage of the right side with the sternum, and descends nearly vertically to empty into the right auricle of the heart. It receives the pericardial and mediastinal veins and the large azygous vein. In vertebrates at large the two venæ cavæ are distinguished as postcaval and precaval veins. See cuts under circulation, diaphragm, embryo, heart, lung, pancreas, and thorax.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A vein.
  • noun (Anat.) Any one of the great systemic veins connected directly with the heart.
  • noun (Hydraulics) The contracted portion of a liquid jet at and near the orifice from which it issues.
  • noun (Anat.) The portal vein of the liver. See under Portal.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a blood vessel that carries blood from the capillaries toward the heart

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Latin vēna.]

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word vena.

Examples

  • He discovered the valve which guards the _foramen ovale_ in the fœtus; and he not only verified the observation of Etienne as to the valve-like fold guarding the entrance of each hepatic vein into the inferior vena cava, but he also fully described the _vena azygos_.

    Fathers of Biology Charles McRae

  • Now, we probably want to do another study just to be sure, but what's the value of innovation in vena cava filters if you aren't going to find out if they actually help patients.

    The Issues: Health Care 2009

  • Now, we probably want to do another study just to be sure, but what's the value of innovation in vena cava filters if you aren't going to find out if they actually help patients.

    The Issues: Health Care 2009

  • Here's an example: there are, oh, on the order of at least 10 different companies all making a device called a vena cava filter.

    The Issues: Health Care 2009

  • Here's an example: there are, oh, on the order of at least 10 different companies all making a device called a vena cava filter.

    The Issues: Health Care 2009

  • The right ventricle sends its charge into the lungs by the vessel which is called vena arteriosa, but which in structure and function, and all other respects, is an artery.

    On the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals 2005

  • The right ventricle sends its charge into the lungs by the vessel which is called vena arteriosa, but which in structure and function, and all other respects, is an artery.

    The Harvard Classics Volume 38 Scientific Papers (Physiology, Medicine, Surgery, Geology) Various

  • Anal veins: those longitudinal unbranched veins extending from base to outer margin below the cubitus; the first anal, also termed vena dividens, q.v., is the 6th of the series starting from the base, and it may be followed by several others which are numbered in order to the inner margin.

    Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology John. B. Smith

  • The right ventricle sends its charge into the lungs by the vessel which is called vena arteriosa, but which in structure and function, and all other respects, is an artery.

    V. Of the Motion, Action and Office of the Heart 1909

  • The primitive or principal vein (Figure 1.100 v) lies below the gut, in the middle line of its ventral side, and is therefore also called the vena subintestinalis; it conducts carbonised or venous blood back from the body to the gills.

    The Evolution of Man — Volume 1 Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel 1876

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.