Anat. and Zool. Also 6 ventrikle, ventrycle, 7 ventrickle. [ad. L. ventriculus VENTRICULUS or F. ventricule: see VENTRICULE.]
1. One or other of the two cavities in the heart by means of which the blood is circulated through the body; also, the cavity of the heart in certain animals and mollusks which fulfils this function.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 162. Þe herte haþ two ventriclis .i. two holowe placis wiþinne, & þat oon ventricle sittiþ in þe riȝtside of þe herte, & þat oþer in þe liftside.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 195. There is a double ventrickle and bone in the heart of an Elephant.
1660. Boyle, New Exp. Phys. Mech., Digress. 347. The Blood that passes out of the right Ventricle of the Heart into the Lungs.
1692. Ray, Creation (ed. 2), I. 33. An Ebullition and sudden Expansion of the Blood in the Ventricles.
1730. Chamberlayne, Relig. Philos., I. vi. § 2. The Heart has two Cavities or Ventricles, separated from each other by a thick fleshy Wall, or Septum.
1760. H. Walpole, Lett. to Mann (1846), IV. 105. The great ventricle of the heart had burst.
1828. Stark, Elem. Nat. Hist., I. 365. The animals of this order [sc. Batrachia] have a heart with a single auricle and ventricle.
1876. Bristowe, Th. & Pract. Med. (1878), 173. In the ventricles of the heart fibrinous clots may be discovered.
transf. 1851. S. P. Woodward, Mollusca, I. 63. Branchiæ two, furnished with muscular ventricles.
attrib. 1898. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., V. 789. Cases of right ventricle failure. Ibid., 794. The hypertrophy was probably … due to left ventricle trouble.
2. One or other of a series of cavities in the brain (normally numbering four in the adult human being) formed by enlargements of the neural canal.
Pineal ventricle: see PINEAL a. b.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 113. Summen scien þat þer ben .iiij. ventriclis of þe brayn. Ibid. Þis ventricle is sett bitwene two addiamentis of þe brayn.
1548. Vicary, Anat., iv. (1888), 31. From the foremost Ventrikle of the brayne springeth seuen payre of sensatiue or feeling senews.
1594. T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad., II. Ep. Rdr. Heere may you see … the seuerall ventricles of the braine, as so many sundrie chambers for the intertainment of the animal spirits.
1620. Venner, Via Recta, ii. 35. Beere that is too bitter … causeth the head-ach, by filling the ventricles of the braine with troublesome vapors.
1655–87. H. More, App. Antid. (1712), 206. Suppose Memory were thus seal’d upon the Brain, and transmitted its Image through the Animal Spirits in the ventricles.
1748. Hartley, Observ. Man, I. i. § 1. 8. Blood, Matter, or Serum, lying upon the Brain, or in its Ventricles.
1800. Med. Jrnl., IV. 553. The vapour or water in the ventricles of the brain.
1840. G. V. Ellis, Anat., 23. The calamus scriptorius in the floor of the fourth ventricle.
1872. Huxley, Physiol., vii. 158. Cilia are found … in the ventricles of the brain.
3. The stomach in man or animals. ? Obs.
Freq. in 17th-cent. use.
1574. Newton, Health Mag., 9. It is good for the Ventricle or Stomacke also.
1594. T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad., II. 343. Wee will beginne at the ventricle, commonly called the stomacke.
1620. Venner, Via Recta, viii. 182. That no part of the meat may sticke … about the mouth of the stomacke, but may … be carried into the ventricle, which is the bottom of the stomack.
a. 1676. Hale, Prim. Orig. Man., I. ii. (1677), 59. Whether I will or will not,… my Heart beats,… my Ventricle digests what is in it.
1710. T. Fuller, Pharm. Extemp., 18. Purging Ale … takes off the slipperiness of the Ventricle and Intestines.
1805–6. Cary, Dante, Inf., XXVIII. 26. Dangling his entrails hung, the midriff … and wretched ventricle, That turns the englutted aliment to dross.
b. The digestive sac or organs in birds, fishes, insects and certain reptiles.
1575. Turberv., Faulconrie, 249. I have thruste my fore finger into hir gorge … and by that meanes have caused hir to fill in the ventricle sooner than otherwise she woulde have done.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 182. The powder of a Storks craw or Ventrickle.
1658. Rowland, trans. Moufet’s Theat. Ins., 907. It may … be termed the Chylus of the Bees,… having its perfection and consummation from their ventricles.
1681. Chetham, Angler’s Vade-m., xli. § 1 (1689), 307. His ventricle is large and capacious.
1704. Ray, Creation (ed. 4), I. 30. The Meat [is] … transferr’d into the Gizzard…, where by the working of the Muscles compounding the sides of that Ventricle,… it is … ground small.
1826. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., xlviii. IV. 424. That the Orthoptera have a ventricle or gizzard.
1868. Duncan, Ins. World, Introd. 10. Two kinds of appendages belong to the chylific ventricle.
1877. Huxley, Anat. Inv. Anim., 412. That part of the alimentary canal which lies in front of the chylific ventricle [in cockroaches].
† c. The belly. In quot. fig. Obs.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., IV. ii. 70. Ideas, apprehensions,… are begot in the ventricle of memorie, nourisht in the wombe of primater.
d. attrib. in † ventricle unguent.
1599. A. M., trans. Gabelhouer’s Bk. Physicke, 238/2. [A recipe for] An excellent Ventricle vnguente, which is verye commodious for the Childebedde Woemen.
4. Any small hollow or cavity in an animal body, serving as a place of organic function; in later use, the recess or space between the true and false vocal cords on each side of the larynx; a laryngeal pouch or sac.
1641. Milton, Church Govt., II. Wks. 1851, III. 44. All the faculties of the Soule are confin’d of old to their severall vessels, and ventricles.
1692. Bentley, Boyle Lect., 109. The various ducts and ventricles of the body.
1730. Bailey (fol.), Ventricles, any round Concavities in a Body.
1808. Barclay, Muscular Motions, 500. The lateral depressions that have been denominated the ventricles of the larynx, or the ventricles of Morgagni.
1877. M. Foster, Physiol., III. vii. (1878), 532. The ventricles of Morgagni are apparently of use in giving the vocal cords sufficient room for their vibrations.
1888. Encycl. Brit., XXIV. 273/2. The ventricles no doubt permit a free vibration of the true vocal cords.
† 5. In gen. use: A cavity or hollow. Obs. rare.
1627. Donne, Serm., IV. 5. In what corner, in what ventricle of the sea lies all the jelly of a body drowned in the general flood?
c. 1630. Risdon, Surv. Devon, § 225. (1810), 237. The caverns and ventricles of the earth.
