axillary

[ak-suh-ler-ee]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR axillary ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

Anatomy, Ornithology. pertaining to the axilla.

Botany. pertaining to or growing from the axil.

noun, plural ax·il·lar·ies.

Ornithology. axillar.

Origin of axillary

First recorded in 1605–15; axill(a) + -ary

Related formsin·ter·ax·il·lar·y, adjectivepost·ax·il·lar·y, adjectivesu·per·ax·il·lar·y, adjective

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

Related Words for axillary

alar, alary

Examples from the Web for axillary

Historical Examples of axillary

Flowers greenish-yellow, axillary, solitary; peduncle not curved.
The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines
T. H. Pardo de Tavera
The axillary branches in like manner showed traces of cleavage.
Vegetable Teratology
Maxwell T. Masters
Even later than this is the growth of the axillary and pubic hair.
The Sexual Life of the Child
Albert Moll
The flowers are in axillary cymes, and the fruit is a berry.
The Sea Shore
William S. Furneaux
Its stem is also more freely branched, and its flowers are axillary and terminal.
The Sea Shore
William S. Furneaux

British Dictionary definitions for axillary

axillary

adjective

of, relating to, or near the armpit

botany growing in or related to the axilan axillary bud

noun plural -laries

Also called: axillar (ækˈsɪlə, ˈæksɪlə) (usually plural) one of the feathers growing from the axilla of a bird's wing

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 axillary

adj.

"pertaining to the armpit or shoulder," 1610s, from Latin *axillaris, from axilla "armpit, upper arm, wing" (see axle).

axillary in Medicine

axillary

[ăk′sə-lĕr′ē]

n.

Relating to the axilla.