capillary

[ kap-uh-ler-ee ]

adjective

1. pertaining to or occurring in or as if in a tube of fine bore.
2. resembling a strand of hair; hairlike.
3. Physics.
   1. pertaining to capillarity.
   2. of or relating to the apparent attraction or repulsion between a liquid and a solid, observed in capillarity.
4. Anatomy. pertaining to a capillary or capillaries.

noun

, plural cap·il·lar·ies.

1. Anatomy. one of the minute blood vessels between the terminations of the arteries and the beginnings of the veins.
2. Also called capillary tube. a tube with a small bore.

capillary

/ kəˈpɪlərɪ /

adjective

1. resembling a hair; slender
2. (of tubes) having a fine bore
3. anatomy of or relating to any of the delicate thin-walled blood vessels that form an interconnecting network between the arterioles and the venules
4. physics of or relating to capillarity

noun

1. anatomy any of the capillary blood vessels
2. a fine hole or narrow passage in any substance

capillary

/ kăp′ə-lĕr′ē /

1. 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.

capillary

1. A thin tube, such as a blood vessel or a straw, through which fluids flow.

Notes

The interaction between the fluid and the vessel walls produces a force that can lift the fluid up into the tube, a phenomenon known as capillary action.

Other Words From

• in·ter·cap·il·lar·y adjective
• non·cap·il·lar·y adjective noun plural noncapillaries

Word History and Origins

Origin of capillary¹

1570–80; capill ( ar ) (obsolete, < Latin capillāris pertaining to hair, equivalent to capill ( us ) hair + -āris -ar ¹ ) + -ary

Word History and Origins

Origin of capillary¹

C17: from Latin capillāris, from capillus hair

Example Sentences

Most drivers using this road are headed to and from a handful of capillary valleys in the Pech.

From The Daily Beast

That was an axiom on which was founded a vigorous war against all capillary adornments.

From Project Gutenberg

The leakage takes place, if not along cracks, through capillary channels, which are everywhere present in sea-ice.

From Project Gutenberg

Of course you have to keep wetting it, for hair will not draw oil fast enough by capillary action.

From Project Gutenberg

These craft look as though they ought to sink by mere capillary attraction.

From Project Gutenberg

This is called capillary attraction, the word capillary meaning a hair.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• hair
• lode
• nerve
• seam
• stripe