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lung - 8 dictionary results
Respiratory Diseases
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lung

  [luhng]
Use lung in a Sentence
–noun
1. either of the two saclike respiratory organs in the thorax of humans and the higher vertebrates.
2. an analogous organ in certain invertebrates, as arachnids or terrestrial gastropods.
—Idiom
3. at the top of one's lungs, as loudly as possible; with full voice: The baby cried at the top of his lungs.
Origin:
bef. 1000; ME lungen, OE; c. G Lunge; akin to light 2 , lights

Related forms:
lunged  [luhngd] , adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Respiratory Diseases
 Learn Both Main Causes & How To Treat Both.
 www.GoBreathe.com
Have Bronchospasm?
 Learn About A Treatment Option That May Be Right for You.
 www.HFAFacts.com
lung   (lŭng)   
n.  
  1. Either of two spongy, saclike respiratory organs in most vertebrates, occupying the chest cavity together with the heart and functioning to remove carbon dioxide from the blood and provide it with oxygen.
  2. A similar organ in some invertebrates, including spiders and terrestrial snails.

[Middle English lunge, from Old English lungen, lungs; see legwh- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Lung

Lung\, n. [OE. lunge, AS. lunge, pl. lungen; akin to D. long, G. lunge, Icel. & Sw. lunga, Dan. lunge, all prob. from the root of E. light. ? See Light not heavy.] (Anat.) An organ for a["e]rial respiration; -- commonly in the plural.

My lungs began to crow like chanticleer. --Shak.

Note: In all air-breathing vertebrates the lungs are developed from the ventral wall of the esophagus as a pouch which divides into two sacs. In amphibians and many reptiles the lungs retain very nearly this primitive saclike character, but in the higher forms the connection with the esophagus becomes elongated into the windpipe and the inner walls of the sacs become more and more divided, until, in the mammals, the air spaces become minutely divided into tubes ending in small air cells, in the walls of which the blood circulates in a fine network of capillaries. In mammals the lungs are more or less divided into lobes, and each lung occupies a separate cavity in the thorax. See Respiration.

Lung fever (Med.), pneumonia.

Lung flower (Bot.), a species of gentian (G. Pneumonanthe).

Lung lichen (Bot.), tree lungwort. See under Lungwort.

Lung sac (Zo["o]l.), one of the breathing organs of spiders and snails.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : lung
Spanish: pulmón,
German: die Lunge,
Japanese: 肺
More Translations »

lung 
O.E. lungen (pl.), from P.Gmc. *lungw- (cf. O.N. lunge, O.Fris. lungen, M.Du. longhe, Ger. lunge "lung"), lit. "the light organ," from PIE *lengwh- "not heavy, light, easy, agile, nimble" (cf. Rus. lëgkij, Pol. lekki "light;" Rus. lëgkoje, Pol. lekkie "lung," Gk. elaphros "light" in weight; see also lever). Cf. Port. leve "lung," from L. levis "light;" Ir. scaman "lungs," from scaman "light;" Welsh ysgyfaint "lungs," from ysgafn "light." See also lights.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Main Entry: lung
Pronunciation: 'l&[ng]
Function: noun
1 a : one of the usually two compound saccular organs that constitute the basic respiratoryorgan of air-breathing vertebrates, that normally occupy the entire lateral parts of the thorax and consist essentially of an inverted tree of intricately branched bronchioles communicating withthin-walled terminal alveoli swathed in a network of delicate capillaries where the actual gaseous exchange of respiration takes place, and that in humans are somewhat flattened with a broad baseresting against the diaphragm and have the right lung divided into three lobes and the left into two lobes b : any of various respiratory organs of invertebrates
2 : a mechanical device for regularly introducing fresh air into and withdrawing stale air from the lungs : RESPIRATOR —see IRON LUNG —lunged adjective
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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lung (lŭng)
n.
Either of the two saclike organs of respiration that occupy the pulmonary cavity of the thorax and in which aeration of the blood takes place. It is common for the right lung, which is divided into three lobes, to be slightly larger than the left, which has two lobes.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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lung   (lŭng)  Pronunciation Key 
  1. Either of two spongy organs in the chest of air-breathing vertebrate animals that serve as the organs of gas exchange. Blood flowing through the lungs picks up oxygen from inhaled air and releases carbon dioxide, which is exhaled. Air enters and leaves the lungs through the bronchial tubes.
  2. A similar organ found in some invertebrates.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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lung

see at the top of one's lungs.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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