a. [ad. L. vēnōs-us (cf. VENOSE a.), or f. L. vēn-a + -OUS.]
1. Filled with, full of, or having veins; veined; veiny. Venous leaf (see quot. 1832).
1626. Bacon, Sylva, ¶ 839. The Consistences of Bodies are very diuers; Dense, Rare;… Venous, and Fibrous [etc.].
1796. Withering, Brit. Plants (ed. 3), II. 250. [Root-leaves] above somewhat glossy, with scattered hairs; underneath venous and woolly.
1831. Lindley, Introd. Bot., 88. If the veins diverge from the midrib towards the margin, ramifying as they proceed, such a leaf has been called a venous or reticulated leaf.
1833. Lyell, Princ. Geol., III. 373. If the more remote beds … are not thus affected,… they never could have existed, or would have been all granitic and venous gneiss.
2. Anat. and Phys. Of or pertaining to, of the nature of, a blood-vein or veins; having the form or function of a vein.
† Venous artery = veiny artery VEINY a. 1. Venous hum (see quot. 1891).
1681. in Willis’s Rem. Med. Wks., Vocab.
1694. W. Wotton, Anc. & Mod. Learn. (1697), p. xxx. The subtil Blood … is … transfused out of the Arterious Vein into the Venous Artery.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Circulation, Both Venous Sinus’s are fill’d, and grow turgid at the same time.
1744. Armstrong, Art Preserv. Health (1770), 8. The drunken venous tubes, that yawn In countless pores o’er all the pervious skin.
1746. R. James, Moufet’s Health Improv., 10. The Blood conveyed by the Arteries, is carried to corresponding venous Canals.
1838. Penny Cycl., XII. 85/2. A fluctuating motion in the jugular vein, called ‘venous pulse.’
1876. Bristowe, Th. & Pract. Med. (1878), 562. The symptoms of venous inflammation.
1876. F. T. Roberts, Handbk. Med. (ed. 2), 433. Venous hum…. This is the only venous murmur … likely to be met with.
1891. F. Taylor, Pract. Med. (ed. 2), 677. If the stethoscope be placed over the lower end of the jugular vein … a continuous humming or rushing noise will be heard, which has been called the venous hum, or bruit de diable.
b. Of blood: Contained in the veins; characterized by a dusky or blackish red colour due to loss of oxygen. (Opposed to arterial.)
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Circulation, The venous Blood … continually moves out of the Sinus … thro’ the right Auricle, and right Ventricle, into the Pulmonary Artery.
1793. T. Beddoes, On Calculus, etc., 225. This experiment proves … that the deep colour of the venous blood is not owing to the combination of hydrogene air.
1802. Med. Jrnl., VIII. 501. In the act of respiration then, the venous blood loses some combustible principles.
1834. H. M’Murtrie, Cuvier’s Anim. Kingd., 29. In all the Vertebrata, the blood which furnishes the liver with the materials of the bile is venous blood.
1896. Newton, Dict. Birds, 1009. The venous blood is collected and conveyed to the right atrium of the heart by 3 great trunks.
c. Consisting or composed of veins. Venous system, the aggregate of veins by which the blood is conveyed from the various parts of the body to the heart.
1826. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., IV. 81. In the Arachnida and Branchiopod Crustacea the long dorsal vessel … is connected with an arterial and venous system, which receives, distributes, and returns the blood.
1852. E. Hamilton, Flora Homœopathica, I. 94. Berberis … seems to act upon the venous system and mucous membranes.
1875. C. G. Blake, Zool., 1. The venous portal system is entirely formed of veins derived from the spleen and other viscera.
3. Of or pertaining to, characteristic of, vein-blood.
1845. G. E. Day, trans. Simon’s Anim. Chem., I. 192. These experiments are sufficient to prove that … the dark venous tint [of the blood] does not arise from carbonic acid or carbon.
1846. Carpenter, Man. Phys., vi. 324. After passing through these, it is transmitted to the general system; and on returning thence, in a completely venous state, it is mingled with the blood which has been arterialized in the lungs.
4. Comb. in venous-arterial adj. In quot. fig.
1831. Carlyle, Sart. Res., III. vii. Venous-arterial circulation of Letters.
Hence Venously adv., Venousness.
1727. Bailey (vol. II.), Venousness, fulness of or having Veins.
1890. Lancet, 5 April, 751/2. The membranes of the brain were venously congested.
