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solar plexus

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noun
  1. Also called celiac plexus. Anatomy. a network of nerves situated at the upper part of the abdomen, behind the stomach and in front of the aorta.
  2. a point on the stomach wall, just below the sternum, where a blow will affect this nerve center.
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Origin of solar plexus

First recorded in 1765–75; so called from the raylike pattern of the nerve fibers
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for solar plexus

tummy, gut, abdomen, belly, tank, insides, pelvis, paunch, maw, inside, potbelly, pot, breadbasket, corporation, intestines, venter

Examples from the Web for solar plexus

Historical Examples of solar plexus

  • This I applied over the solar-plexus and to the anterior surface of his body.

    Lincoln's Last Hours

    Charles A. Leale

  • And then, "Chance blow in the solar-plexus," someone was saying.

    Paradise Garden

    George Gibbs

  • "It's a solar-plexus retort, just the same," said Carraway, as he shook his head and went to bed.

    The Booming of Acre Hill

    John Kendrick Bangs

  • Knocked 'is wind out, you 'ave. Struck 'im bang in the solar-plexus, blowed if you didn't!

    Adventures of Bindle

    Herbert George Jenkins

  • When Mrs. B. gets 'old of a broom, or a mop, the safest thing to do is to draw in your solar-plexus an' run.

    Mrs. Bindle

    Hebert Jenkins

British Dictionary definitions for solar plexus

solar plexus

noun
  1. Also called: coeliac plexus anatomy the network of sympathetic nerves situated behind the stomach that supply the abdominal organs
  2. (not in technical usage) the part of the stomach beneath the diaphragm; pit of the stomach
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Word Origin for solar plexus

C18: referring to resemblance between the radial network of nerves and ganglia and the rays of the sun
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
solar plexus in Medicine

solar plexus

n.
  1. celiac plexus
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.