Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

air bladder

See more synonyms for air bladder on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a vesicle or sac containing air.
  2. Also called gas bladder, swim bladder. Ichthyology. a gas-filled sac located against the roof of the body cavity of most bony fishes, originally functioning only as a lung, now serving in many higher fishes to regulate hydrostatic pressure.
Show More

Origin of air bladder

First recorded in 1725–35
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for air bladder

Historical Examples

  • I believe he is rising now from some management of the air-bladder.

    Jack at Sea

    George Manville Fenn

  • The air-bladder large and strong, and in some cases notched on the margin.

    The Ocean World:

    Louis Figuier

  • In the sharks, rays, and chimæras there is no trace of an air-bladder.

  • But the primal purpose of the air-bladder was not to serve as a float.

  • The elasticity of the air enables fishes to rise and sink in water, through the action of the air-bladder.

British Dictionary definitions for air bladder

air bladder

noun
  1. Also called: swim bladder ichthyol an air-filled sac, lying above the alimentary canal in bony fishes, that regulates buoyancy at different depths by a variation in the pressure of the air
  2. any air-filled sac, such as one of the bladders of seaweeds
Show More
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
air bladder in Science

air bladder

  1. An air-filled sac in many fish that helps maintain buoyancy or, in some species, helps in respiration, sound production, or hearing. Also called swim bladder
  2. See float.
Show More
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.