Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A waxy white protective substance covering the skin of a fetus.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In medicine, used in the phrase vernix caseosa, a fatty matter covering the skin of the fetus.
Wiktionary
- n. medicine Vernix caseosa; a fatty deposit covering the skin of newborn babies.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a white cheeselike protective material that covers the skin of a fetus
Etymologies
- From Medieval Latin vernix ("varnish"). (Wiktionary)
- Short for vernix caseosa. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Her skin is wrinkled and covered with a creamy protective coating called vernix caseosa.”
“Cheesy material — called vernix caseosa — covers the body, providing a protective dressing for the skin, which is reddened, moist, and deeply creased.”
The Wall Street Journal: 'The Thing About Life Is That One Day You'll Be Dead'
“Most babies have a white, creamy substance called vernix on their skin right after birth.”
“A white, creamy substance called vernix may cover her body.”
“This now has begun to disappear and the skin becomes brighter and is covered with a white, cheesy material called the vernix caseosa.”
“A slimy protective layer on the fetal skin, called the vernix, prevents electrical signals from being conducted to the surface of the expectant mother's body, where they could be measured," he says.”
“The vernix, also known as vernix caseosa, a waxy white substance found coating the skin of babies, prevents electrical signals of the tiny beating heart of the fetus from being conducted to the surface of the expectant mother's body, making it impossible for standard EKG techniques to detect the rhythm.”
“Studies show that within a few days of birth, your baby can distinguish among the scent of your milk and other skin odors.27 Certainly, your scents are the most familiar and comforting to your newborn—yet another important reason to not wash away amniotic fluid or vernix from her skin right after birth.”
“Your baby spent the last forty weeks comfortably and safely immersed in amniotic fluid and covered in vernix.”
“While your baby was in the womb, your body made vernix a creamy, white, lanolin-like substance to cover and protect her skin.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘vernix’.
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A Glossary of Filth
A compilation of those nitty-gritty yucky terms for substances and situations that we prefer not to encounter. Please folks, keep it clean; avoid the overly offensive ones.
"the terms...schmutz, smegma, muck, snarge, sewerage, mecomium, sewage, sebum, toe jam, pus, sludge, backwash and 130 more...
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reproduction
gravid, hysterectomy, vanishing twin, fetal resorption, fetus papyraceus, craniopagus paras..., vestigial twin, fetus in fetu, pump twin, blighted ovum, fetal pole, crown-rump length and 109 more...
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The Whole Ball of Wax
Feel free to wax poetic.
the whole ball of..., wax poetic, wax, beeswax, ambergris, cedar waxwing, sealing wax, earwax, paraffin, bougie, epicuticular wax, waxing gibbous moon and 192 more...
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Creepy Accretions
Substances that accumulate on the human body, whether we want them to or not.
smegma, toejam, earwax, dingleberries, fromunda cheese, cerumen, sleep, rheum, mucopurulent disc..., navel wool, dandruff, sweat and 9 more...
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Pregnant with Possibilities (Includin...
For double the fun, see also Congenital Conditions.
obstetrics, obstetrician, neonatology, neonatologist, isolette, postpartum, prepartum, puerperal fever, induce, pregnancy, episiotomy, meconium and 324 more...
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To Learn
paratonnerre, apophenia, aposiopesis, compline, rebarbatiive, comity, averruncate, apodictic, apophasis, farouche, accismus, abligurition and 157 more...
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perhapsolutely's Words
polyradiculoneuro..., abulia, abubble, abscission, abaft, zareba, abatis, abigail, abiogenesis, ablate, ablaut, abo and 1705 more...
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expectant words
As if pregnancy isn't surreal enough, it comes with a suite of bizarre words.
nuchal, chloasma, vernix, lanugo, couvade, linea nigra, colostrum, parturition, braxton hicks, gravid, parturient amnesia, eclampsia and 7 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for vernix.
john "Week 38: Most of the baby's downy hair, lanugo, and whitish coating, vernix, is disappearing."
WebMD Oct 2, 2007
kad A waxy white protective substance covering the skin of a fetus.
Sep 2, 2007