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vagus

American  
[vey-guhs] / ˈveɪ gəs /

noun

  • vagi
    plural
  1. vagus nerve.


vagus British  
/ ˈveɪɡəs /

noun

  1. the tenth cranial nerve, which supplies the heart, lungs, and viscera

"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

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

Etymology

Origin of vagus

1830–40; < Latin: wandering

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

"By revealing that this system is boosted by gut signaling from the vagus nerve, novel therapeutic targets could leverage this information to explore vagus nerve-based approaches, such as vagus nerve stimulation."

From Science Daily Jul. 29, 2026

Or a vagus nerve stimulator from Truvaga for $499.

From The Wall Street Journal Jul. 19, 2026

GLP-1 receptors are expressed not just in the pancreas and stomach, but throughout the vagus nerve, the brain stem, and the hypothalamus.

From Slate Mar. 22, 2026

The device sends carefully controlled electrical signals to the left vagus nerve -- a key communication pathway between the brain and many internal organs.

From Science Daily Jan. 20, 2026

“There’s no automatic cut-in of the vagus nerve,” Phil Resch said, “in an android. As there is in a human. Weren’t you taught that when they trained you? I got taught that years ago.”

From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick

This slow heart sometimes occurs after rheumatic fever; it is quite frequent after diphtheria, and may show a disturbance of the vagi.

From Disturbances of the Heart by Oliver T. (Oliver Thomas) Osborne

The heart is slowed by the action of nicotin on the vagi, as these nerves are stimulated both centrally and peripherally.

From Disturbances of the Heart by Oliver T. (Oliver Thomas) Osborne

It is a familiar physiologic fact that stimulation of the vagi slows the heart or even stops it.

From Disturbances of the Heart by Oliver T. (Oliver Thomas) Osborne

A scientific indication as to whether a heart is disturbed through the action of the vagi or whether the disturbance is due to muscle degeneration may be obtained by the administration of atropin.

From Disturbances of the Heart by Oliver T. (Oliver Thomas) Osborne

The nervous inhibitory control through the vagi must also be normal, and there must be no abnormal reflexes of any part of the body to interfere with the normal vagus control of the heart.

From Disturbances of the Heart by Oliver T. (Oliver Thomas) Osborne

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