artery

[ahr-tuh-ree]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR artery ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural ar·ter·ies.

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.

Origin of artery

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin artēria < Greek: windpipe, artery. See aorta

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for artery

boulevard, thoroughfare, duct, tube, sewer, highway, corridor, passage, avenue, route, road, pathway, canal, conduit, track, course, way, line

Examples from the Web for artery

Contemporary Examples of artery

The horn, or broken rib, had hit an artery, and within a few minutes, or seconds, he was dead.
The Death of a Rodeo Cowboy
Peter Richmond
May 11, 2014
Now surgeons will have an hour to fix the artery, return blood, and revive you.
New 'Suspended Animation' Procedure Saves Lives by Replacing Blood with a Cold Electrolyte Solution
Elizabeth Lopatto
April 2, 2014
The equivalent of that nerve— the most direct route to its end organ—is to go south of the equivalent of the artery.
Rediscovering Richard Dawkins: An Interview
J.P. O’Malley
September 23, 2013
So the most direct route from the brain to the larynx was now not south of that artery.
Rediscovering Richard Dawkins: An Interview
J.P. O’Malley
September 23, 2013
At a certain point, this artery suddenly allows side-of-the-road parking.
How to Be a Racing Pirate King
David Frum
May 21, 2013

Historical Examples of artery

Lieutenant Ford was wounded and a branch of an artery was cut.
The Story of the Malakand Field Force
Sir Winston S. Churchill
It went, the doctor said, within a hair's-breadth of the artery.
A Day's Ride
Charles James Lever
Every nerve and siny of a nerve was there,—not a vein nor an artery wanting.
The Fortunes Of Glencore
Charles James Lever
I think the artery was cut while the heart was still beating.
The Mysterious Murder of Pearl Bryan
Unknown
If the blood is bright and comes out in spurts, it's an artery.
The Big Brother
George Cary Eggleston

British Dictionary definitions for artery

artery

noun plural -teries

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

Word Origin for artery

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 artery

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.

artery in Medicine

artery

[är′tə-rē]

n.

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.

artery in Science

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.

Related formsarterial adjective (är-tîr′ē-əl)