Pl. varices. [L. (stem varic-). Cf. VARICE.]
1. Path. An abnormal dilatation or enlargement of a vein or artery, usually accompanied by a tortuous development; a varicose vein.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 178. Þe blood-letyng of þis veyne is good … for varices & for vlcera þat ben in þe hipis ouþer in þe leggis.
1541. R. Copland, Galyen’s Terap., 2 C iij b. It may so be that varix, that is to say a swollen vayne that is aboue it, may be the cause.
1607. Holland, Pliny, II. 279. Some writers hold, that this herb…, bound vnto the swelling veines called Varices, doth allay the paine thereof.
1668. Culpepper & Cole, Barthol. Anat., 363. For that is easie to see in a Varix of the Thigh and Foot.
1767. Gooch, Treat. Wounds, I. 183. Varices … sometimes become very large and painful upon the legs, requiring opening.
1783. Med. Comm., I. 181. The dilatation of a vein (commonly called a varix) takes an oblong shape.
1835–6. Todd’s Cycl. Anat. & Phys., I. 186/1. Pressure on the varix empties it of its contents.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VI. 190. In another case a similar thrombosed varix had broken from its pedicle.
b. The diseased condition characterized by this, as a specific malady.
1813. J. Thomson, Lect. Inflamm., 128. The dilatation of capillary vessels which occurs in some species of varix.
1876. Gross, Dis. Bladder, etc., 156. The veins … have a tortuous, convoluted arrangement, similar to what occurs in varix of the leg and thigh.
1878. T. Bryant, Pract. Surg., I. 500. Varix is commonly an affection of the veins in the lower extremities, and mainly, of the branches of the saphena vein.
2. Conch., A longitudinal elevation or swelling on the surface of a shell (see quot. 1851).
1822. J. Parkinson, Outl. Oryctol., 201. With a marginal and sometimes a dorsal varix.
1851. G. F. Richardson, Geol., viii. 241. The varices … are ribs which cross the volutions in some species of buccinum, murex, and triton. They are formed by the periodical growth of the shells.
1861. P. P. Carpenter, in Rep. Smithsonian Instit., 1860, 198. The Struthiolariæ have a simple varix instead of a wide lip.
