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vena contracta

American

[vee-nuh kuhn-trak-tuh] / ˈvi nə kənˈtræk tə /

noun

Hydraulics.

any of the locations in a jet of fluid emerging from an orifice where the cross section of the jet is at a minimum, especially the location of minimum cross section nearest the orifice.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

venae contractae

plural

Etymology

Origin of vena contracta

< New Latin: contracted vein

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.