Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A substance secreted by the buccal glands of leeches, capable of preventing coagulation by inactivating thrombin and used in medicine as an anticoagulant.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun medicine A
peptide , obtained from thesalivary glands ofleeches , that is used as ananticoagulant
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Originally a trademark, from Latin hirūdō, leech.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Latin hirudo ("leech") + -in
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Examples
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Clotting is prevented by the injection of a harmless substance derived from leeches, known as hirudin.
The War Terror 1908
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Parenteral anticoagulants, such as unfractionated heparin (UH), low molecular weight heparin (LMWH), hirudin derivatives, and argatroban may also cause ICH.
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Studies have found that leech saliva contains about 100 biologically active substances including hirudin, the substance that inhibits blood-clotting.
unknown title 2008
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