Pl. venæ. [L. vēna.] A vein.
Used only in conjunction with Latin adjs. or genitives; many of the specific names thus formed are recorded in special Dictionaries from the 17th cent. onwards.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 177. Summe of þese veynes comeþ fro a veyne of þe lyuer, þat is clepid vena ramosa.
a. 1425. trans. Arderne’s Treat. Fistula, etc., 54. Agayne þe mormale be þer lesnyng of vena basilica, i. lyuer vayne.
1548. Vicary, Anat. (1888), vii. 54. Of vena Sephalica springeth vena occularis; and of vena Bazilica springeth vena Saluatella.
1598. Florio, Assellare vena, a large vaine being a branch of Vena caua.
1626. B. Jonson, Staple of N., IV. iv. The Doctor … tells you, Of Vena caua, and of vena porta.
1676. Wiseman, Surg. Treat., 343. The Bloud being prest out into the Vena cava.
1755. Dict. Arts & Sci., IV. 3148/2. Between the aorta and the vena azygos.
1793. Holcroft, trans. Lavater’s Physiog., vii. 47. A blue vena frontalis … in an open, smooth, well-arched forehead.
1822–7. Good, Study Med. (1829), II. 8. The abdominal branches of the vena portæ.
1840. E. Wilson, Anat. Vade M. (1842), 352. The Venæ Thebesii are numerous minute venules [etc.].
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VII. 245. The aortic and vena cava pressures are obtained by passing canulæ down the carotid artery and jugular vein respectively.
