vena cava
Americannoun
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venae cavae
plural
noun
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venae cavae
plural
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Either of two large veins that carry blood with low levels of oxygen to the right atrium of the heart.
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◆ The superior vena cava receives blood from the brain and upper limbs or forelimbs.
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◆ The inferior vena cava drains blood from the trunk and lower limbs or hindlimbs and is the largest vein in the body.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of vena cava
First recorded in 1590–1600; from Latin vēna cava, literally “hollow vein”
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.
Next Parkhurst inserted tiny balloons that he inflated to reopen the threadlike stream through the narrowed vena cava.
From New York Times ● Nov. 30, 2022
Parkhurst put a tiny tube through an incision into the patient’s jugular vein in his neck and slowly advanced it down past the heart into the vena cava where the filter was located.
From New York Times ● Nov. 30, 2022
They end with the exiting of the renal veins to join the superior vena cava.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022
Most of the blood flows into either the superior vena cava or inferior vena cava.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013
The heart was flaccid, the right auricle and ventricle were enlarged and attenuated, and both vena cava at their junction with the heart were much dilated, the valvular structure natural.
From An Investigation into the Nature of Black Phthisis or Ulceration Induced by Carbonaceous Accumulation in the Lungs of Coal Miners by Archibald Makellar
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
