artery
[ahr-tuh-ree]
- Anatomy. a blood vessel that conveys blood from the heart to any part of the body.
- a main channel or highway, especially of a connected system with many branches.
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Origin of artery
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for arteries
Contemporary Examples
Twenty minutes later, the surgeons told us they needed to start on the 12-hour operation to save his arteries.
The drug halts the development of atherosclerosis, a word referring to the hardening of the arteries.
The Paleo diet is dangerous because it permits red meat, which clogs our arteries and shortens our lifespan.
Of these deaths, coronary heart disease—the narrowing of the arteries that feed the heart—accounts for more than half the deaths.
It is art that reaches deep into arteries and jowels that sag with life lived.
Historical Examples
At one time a favorite expression was, A man is as old as his arteries.
The Goat-gland TransplantationSydney B. Flower
They never take a fellow on anything but two arteries for the navy.
BarringtonCharles James Lever
Not a drop of blood was found in the veins nor was any found in the arteries or heart.
He can feel all the throbbings of the blood in the arteries.
The Life, Public Services and Select Speeches of Rutherford B. HayesJames Quay Howard
Then, in jubilant waves, the blood beat back into her arteries.
Oh, You Tex!William Macleod Raine
artery
- any of the tubular thick-walled muscular vessels that convey oxygenated blood from the heart to various parts of the bodyCompare pulmonary artery, vein
- a major road or means of communication in any complex system
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Word Origin
C14: from Latin artēria, related to Greek aortē the great artery, aorta
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
Word Origin and History for arteries
artery
n.
late 14c., from Anglo-French arterie, Old French artaire (13c.; Modern French artère), and directly from Latin arteria, from Greek arteria "windpipe," also "an artery," as distinct from a vein; related to aeirein "to raise" (see aorta).
They were regarded by the ancients as air ducts because the arteries do not contain blood after death; medieval writers took them for the channels of the "vital spirits," and 16c. senses of artery in English include "trachea, windpipe." The word is used in reference to artery-like systems of major rivers from 1805; of railways from 1850.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
artery
(är′tə-rē)- Any of a branching system of muscular, elastic blood vessels that, except for the pulmonary and umbilical arteries, carry aerated blood away from the heart to the cells, tissues, and organs of the body.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
artery
[är′tə-rē]
- Any of the blood vessels that carry oxygenated blood away from the heart to the body's cells, tissues, and organs. Arteries are flexible, elastic tubes with muscular walls that expand and contract to pump blood through the body.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
arteries
Blood vessels that carry blood away from the heart and to the body tissues. (Compare veins; see circulatory system.)
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The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.