bladder

[ blad-er ]

noun

1. Anatomy, Zoology.
   1. a membranous sac or organ serving as a receptacle for a fluid or air.
   2. urinary bladder.
2. Pathology. a vesicle, blister, cyst, etc., filled with fluid or air.
3. Botany. an air-filled sac or float, as in certain seaweeds.
4. something resembling a bladder, as the inflatable lining of a football or basketball.
5. an air-filled sac, usually made to resemble a club, used for beatings in low comedy, vaudeville, or the like.

bladder

/ ˈblædə /

noun

1. anatomy a distensible membranous sac, usually containing liquid or gas, esp the urinary bladder vesical
2. an inflatable part of something
3. a blister, cyst, vesicle, etc, usually filled with fluid
4. a hollow vesicular or saclike part or organ in certain plants, such as the bladderwort or bladderwrack

bladder

/ blăd′ər /

1. A sac-shaped muscular organ that stores the urine secreted by the kidneys, found in all vertebrates except birds and the monotremes. In mammals, urine is carried from the kidneys to the bladder by the ureters and is later discharged from the body through the urethra.
2. An air bladder.

bladder

1. A stretchable saclike structure in the body that holds fluids . The term is used most often to refer to the urinary bladder , which is part of the excretory system . Another kind of bladder is the gallbladder .

Derived Forms

• ˈbladdery, adjective

Other Words From

• bladder·less adjective
• bladder·like adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of bladder¹

before 900; Middle English; Old English blǣddre, blǣdre bladder, blister, pimple; cognate with Old Norse blāthra, dialectal Dutch bladder, German Blatter; akin to blow ²

Word History and Origins

Origin of bladder¹

Old English blǣdre

Example Sentences

Go to the bathroom frequently, because a full bladder will make you significantly colder.

From Outside Online

In 1969, the Food and Drug Administration banned the sweetener cyclamate after lab studies indicated that large doses of the sweetener led to bladder cancer in animals.

From No Straight News

To find out, Charlotte went hunting for small bladder snails in local streams.

From Science News For Students

Symptoms range from numbness, tingling or pain to limb paralysis and bladder problems.

From Science News

Nothing’s more important than staying hydrated when hiking, and an excellent way to do this is with a hydration bladder.

From Popular-Science

She lost control of her bladder as she crouched in a corner, shaking, and unable to move her body due to the shock.

From The Daily Beast

The gasbag is in two parts—a tough shell and a gastight bladder, the latter being designed to be discarded if it leaks.

From The Daily Beast

Kerri Kasem said in court Friday that her father was suffering from bedsores and lung and bladder infections.

From The Daily Beast

Prick the bladder with a needle every so often,” she advises sagely, “to keep it from exploding.

From The Daily Beast

“My dog has just had to learn good bladder and bowel control,” he jokes.

From The Daily Beast

Their usual source is the deeper layers of the urinary tract, especially of the bladder.

From Project Gutenberg

Considerable hemorrhages from the bladder may occur in vesical calculus, tuberculosis, and newgrowths.

From Project Gutenberg

On the way we were greatly excited to see the bladder of an indicator net smoking.

From Project Gutenberg

At home all the morning, being by the cold weather, which for these two days has been frost, in some pain in my bladder.

From Project Gutenberg

In less than two minutes the cranium of Mark Antony Figgins was as smooth and destitute of hair as a bladder of lard.

From Project Gutenberg