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vein Definition

vein (vān)

noun

    1. any blood vessel that carries blood from some part of the body back toward the heart
    2. loosely any blood vessel
  1. any of the riblike supports strengthening the membranous wings of an insect
  2. any of the bundles of vascular tissue forming the framework of a leaf blade
  3. a more or less continuous body of minerals, igneous or sedimentary rock, etc., occupying a fissure or zone, differing in nature from the enclosing rock, and usually deposited from solution by circulating water
  4. lode (senses 1 & 2)
  5. a streak or marking of a color or substance different from the surrounding material, as in marble or wood
    1. any distinctive quality or strain regarded as running through one's character, or a speech, writing, etc. a vein of humor in the essay
    2. course or tenor of thought, feeling, action, etc.
  6. a temporary state of mind; mood speaking in a serious vein

Etymology: ME veine < OFr < L vena

transitive verb

  1. to streak or mark with or as with veins
  2. to branch out through in the manner of veins

vein Synonyms

vein

n.

  1. A deposit of ore

    lode, bed, mineral bed, seam, striation, streak, strike, ledge, lead, reef, dike.

  2. A blood vessel, especially leading to the heart

    duct, canal, vena cava, varicose vein, veinlet, venule, artery, arteriole, capillary; see also artery 2, vessel 3.

    Major veins of the human body include: jugular, pulmonary, subclavian, portal, iliac, hepatic, renal, cervical, brachiocephalic, femoral, saphenous.

  3. Anything resembling a vein, sense 2

    hair, thread, follicle, nerve, rib, nervure, venation.

  4. A distinctive quality or mood

    strain, humor, temper, tenor tone, style, bent, ilk, tang, spice, dash; see also characteristic, mood 1, temperament. See syn. study at mood.

vein Usage Examples

Preposition: of

ore: Thus, even at this early stage, it was known that many veins of ore crossed this area.

Converse of object

  • dilate: They are long tortuous defects suggestive of dilated veins.
  • perforate: The two systems are linked periodically by perforating veins.
  • sever: She had severed a principal vein in her neck with her husband's razor, which was lying by her side.

Adjective modifier

  • varicose: You're the varicose veins, I'm the elastic stocking.
  • jugular: Allah is closer to a man than the man's jugular vein.
  • saphenous: A color duplex Doppler ultra sound revealed gross short saphenous vein ( SSV ) reflux.
  • hepatic: The hepatic vein then circulates back toward the heart.
  • pulmonary: Simple PAVMs have a single feeding artery leading to single draining pulmonary vein.
  • superficial: Normally their valves should allow blood to flow only inwards from the superficial veins to the deep veins.

Modifies a noun

  • thrombosis: For example, most people with a deep vein thrombosis in the leg are given warfarin for six months.
  • occlusion: Retinal vein occlusion The retinal veins drain away the used blood from the retinal cells.
  • graft: The surgical insertion of a new blood vessel or vein graft around the constricted artery from the aorta.
  • mineralization: Some smaller anomalies are probably derived from weak base metal vein mineralization.
  • resection: Although hepatic vein resection was performed in 15 patients, only two underwent major hepatectomy and none had vascular reconstruction.

Noun used with modifier

  • quartz: Climb the wall past a quartz vein crack to reach the right end of an overhang.
  • calcite: The water-worn dog-tooth calcite ( about 6 " long ) at one end presumably indicates development along a calcite vein.
  • spider: Scientific research has not come up with all the reasons why spider veins occur.
  • portal: Blood full of just digested nutrients from the intestine and the stomach enter the liver via the hepatic portal vein.
  • forehead: Pulsations in forehead veins popping up between people who are about the agreementwhen.

Browse dictionary entries near vein

  1. veiling
  2. veiled
  3. veil
  4. Veii
  5. vehicular
  6. vehicle
  7. vehement
  8. vehemence
  9. veggie
  10. Vegetius full name FlaviusVegetius Renatus
  1. veined
  2. veining
  3. veinlet
  4. veinstone
  5. veinule
  6. veiny
  7. vel
  8. Velázquez
  9. vela
  10. velamen