inosculate

American  

[in-os-kyuh-leyt] / ɪnˈɒs kyəˌleɪt /

verb (used with or without object)

inosculated, inosculating

1. to unite by openings, as arteries in anastomosis.

2. to connect or join so as to become or make continuous, as fibers; blend.

3. to unite intimately.

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inosculate British  

/ ɪnˈɒskjʊˌleɪt /

verb

1. physiol (of small blood vessels) to communicate by anastomosis

2. to unite or be united so as to be continuous; blend

3. to intertwine or cause to intertwine

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Other Word Forms

• inosculation noun

Etymology

Origin of inosculate

First recorded in 1665–75; in- ² + osculate

Example Sentences

The capillaries inosculate, on the one hand, with the terminal extremity of the arteries, and on the other, with the commencement of the veins.

From A Treatise on Anatomy, Physiology, and Hygiene (Revised Edition) by Cutter, Calvin

They inosculate; they severally send off and receive connecting growths; and the intercommunion has been ever becoming more frequent, more intricate, more widely ramified.

From Essays on Education and Kindred Subjects Everyman's Library by Spencer, Herbert

To inosculate; to intercommunicate by anastomosis, as the arteries and veins.

From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary by Webster, Noah

I point so often to the feelings, the ideas, or the ceremonies of religion, because there never yet was profound grief nor profound philosophy which did not inosculate at many points with profound religion.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 57, No. 353, March 1845 by Various