Capillaries - Definitions from Dictionary.com

4 results for: Capillaries

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

cap·il·lar·y

Audio Help [kap-uh-ler-ee] Pronunciation Key adjective, noun, plural -lar·ies.

–adjective

1.	pertaining to or occurring in or as if in a tube of fine bore.

2.	resembling a strand of hair; hairlike.

Physics.

a.	pertaining to capillarity.

b.	of or pertaining to the apparent attraction or repulsion between a liquid and a solid, observed in capillarity.

4.	Anatomy. pertaining to a capillary or capillaries.

–noun

5.	Anatomy. one of the minute blood vessels between the terminations of the arteries and the beginnings of the veins.

6.	Also called capillary tube. a tube with a small bore.

[Origin: 1570–80; capill(ar) (obs., < L capillāris pertaining to hair, equiv. to capill(us) hair + -āris -ar¹) + -ary

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Capillaries

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

cap·il·lar·y Audio Help (kāp'ə-lěr'ē) Pronunciation Key
adj.

Relating to or resembling a hair; fine and slender.
Having a very small internal diameter: a capillary tube.
Anatomy Of or relating to the capillaries.
Physics Of or relating to capillarity.

n. pl. cap·il·lar·ies

Anatomy One of the minute blood vessels that connect arterioles and venules. These blood vessels form an intricate network throughout the body for the interchange of various substances, such as oxygen and carbon dioxide, between blood and tissue cells.
A tube with a very small internal diameter.

[From Latin capillāris, from capillus, hair.]

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The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

capillary Audio Help (kāp'ə-lěr'ē) Pronunciation Key
Any of the tiny blood vessels that connect the smallest arteries (arterioles) to the smallest veins (venules). Capillaries form a network throughout the body for the exchange of oxygen, metabolic waste products, and carbon dioxide between blood and tissue cells.

American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
capillaries [(kap-uh-ler-eez)]

The tiny blood vessels throughout the body that connect arteries and veins. Capillaries form an intricate network around body tissues in order to distribute oxygen and nutrients to the cells and remove waste substances. (See circulatory system.)

[Chapter:] Medicine and Health

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