Adjacent Words

Capillary definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CAPILLARY, a.
1. Resembling a hair, fine, minute, small in diameter, though long; as a capillary tube or pipe; a capillary vessel in animal bodies, such as the ramifications of the blood vessels.
2. In botany, capillary plants are hair-shaped, as the ferns; a term used by Ray, Boerhaave and Morison. This class of plants corresponds to the order of Filices, in the Sexual method, which bear their flower and fruit on the back of the leaf or stalk.
This term is applied also to leaves which are longer than the setaceous or bristle-shaped leaf, to glands resembling hairs, to the filaments, to the style, and to the pappus or down affixed to some seeds.
CAPILLARY, n. A fine vessel or canal.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: of or relating to hair
2: long and slender with a very small internal diameter; "a capillary tube" [syn: capillary, hairlike] n
1: a tube of small internal diameter; holds liquid by capillary action [syn: capillary, capillary tube, capillary tubing]
2: any of the minute blood vessels connecting arterioles with venules [syn: capillary, capillary vessel]

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective Etymology: French or Latin; French capillaire, from Latin capillaris, from capillus hair Date: 14th century 1. a. resembling a hair especially in slender elongated form <capillary leaves> b. having a very small bore <a capillary tube> 2. involving, held by, or resulting from surface tension <capillary water in the soil> 3. of or relating to capillaries or capillarity II. noun (plural -laries) Date: 1667 a capillary tube; especially any of the smallest blood vessels connecting arterioles with venules and forming networks throughout the body

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. & n. --adj. 1 of or like a hair. 2 (of a tube) of hairlike internal diameter. 3 of one of the delicate ramified blood vessels intervening between arteries and veins. --n. (pl. -ies) 1 a capillary tube. 2 a capillary blood vessel. Phrases and idioms: capillary action = CAPILLARITY. Etymology: L capillaris f. capillus hair

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Capillary Cap"il*la*ry, n.; pl. Capillaries. 1. A tube or vessel, extremely fine or minute. 2. (Anat.) A minute, thin-walled vessel; particularly one of the smallest blood vessels connecting arteries and veins, but used also for the smallest lymphatic and biliary vessels.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Capillary Cap"il*la*ry (k[a^]p"[i^]l*l[asl]*r[y^] or k[.a]*p[i^]l"l[.a]*r[y^]; 277), a. [L. capillaris, fr. capillus hair. Cf. Capillaire.] 1. Resembling a hair; fine; minute; very slender; having minute tubes or interspaces; having very small bore; as, the capillary vessels of animals and plants. 2. Pertaining to capillary tubes or vessels; as, capillary action. Capillary attraction, Capillary repulsion, the apparent attraction or repulsion between a solid and liquid caused by capillarity. See Capillarity, and Attraction. Capillarity tubes. See the Note under Capillarity.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(capillaries) Capillaries are tiny blood vessels in your body. N-COUNT

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. Fine (like a hair), slender, minute, delicate, filiform.

Moby Thesaurus

aorta, arterial, arteriole, artery, blood vessel, bristlelike, carotid, cirrose, cirrous, fibered, fibroid, fibrous, flagelliform, flossy, funicular, gossamery, hairlike, hairy, jugular vein, ligamental, portal vein, pulmonary artery, pulmonary vein, ropy, silky, stringy, taeniate, taeniform, threadlike, thready, vascular, vein, veinlet, veinous, vena cava, venation, venose, venous, venule, vesicular, wiry