a. [ad. L. villōsus VILLOSE a. Cf. F. villeux.]
1. Anat. Covered with numerous thick-set, slender projections resembling short hairs: a. Of the inner coat of the stomach or intestines.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 169. Þe stomak & þe guttis is ordeyned a skyn, þat is clepid þe siphac; & is a syngle skyn & is not villous.
1731. Arbuthnot, Aliments, i. (1735), 7. The quick Sensation of the inward villous Coat of the Stomach.
1733. Cheyne, Eng. Malady, II. vii. § 1 (1734), 184. Either it [the stomach] is too thin and weak,… or the inner villous Membrane is worn off.
1769. Hewson, in Phil. Trans., LIX. 210. The lacteals in the cod … are remarkable for having a beautiful net-work of vessels between the muscular and villous coat of the intestines.
1842. Combe, Digest., 94. On examining the surface of the villous coat with a magnifying glass.
1881. Mivart, Cat, 183. There is thus a great contrast between its interior and the villous internal surface of the small intestine.
b. In general use.
1764. Reid, Inquiry, ii. § 1. The membrana pituitaria, and the olfactory nerves, which are distributed to the villous parts of this membrane.
1792. Phil. Trans., LXXXII. 179. The tongue itself is extremely villous, having some very long villi at the point, which act, I conceive, somewhat like capillary tubes.
1831. R. Knox, Cloquet’s Anat., 555. The surface of the ciliary processes is reticulated and villous.
1846. Carpenter, Man. Phys., 192. The villous and vascular condition of a Mucous membrane.
1870. Rolleston, Anim. Life, 124. The pharynx [of the earthworm] has a coarsely villous exterior.
2. Of the nature of villi.
1664. Power, Exp. Philos., I. 22. An Appendent Proboscis or Trunk, consisting of many villous filaments in figure of a Cone.
1854. C. H. Jones & Siev., Pathol. Anat., iv. 188. Rokitansky describes a variety of cancer, which he calls villous, from its consisting of a kind of delicate fibrous stalk branching at its end into villous processes.
1873. F. T. Roberts, Handbk. Med., 44. The weak new vessels … in certain vascular cysts, or villous processes.
1876. Bristowe, Th. & Pract. Med. (1878), 93. Fungous, papular, villous, or cystic formations.
Comb. 1869. G. Lawson, Dis. Eye (1874), 13. Covered with small red villous-looking granulations.
3. Of animals: Hairy, furry. rare–1.
1661. Lovell, Hist. Anim. & Min., Isagoge b 1. Horses have most haire upon the mane, lions upon their shoulders,… and the hare is most villous; in all they grow thick.
4. Bot. Of parts of plants: Thickly covered with long soft hairs.
1766. Museum Rust., VI. 444. The flowers … are succeeded by a swelling, villous pod.
1787. Fam. Plants, I. 41. Stigmas two, villous on the side.
1808. Roxburgh, in Asiat. Res., VIII. 500. Leaves alternate,… smooth above, villous underneath.
1844. Florist’s Jrnl. (1846), V. 18. Its petals being far less taper-pointed, and not villous.
1881. Gard. Chron., XVI. 780. The whole plant is more or less villous.
b. Consisting of villi.
1821. W. P. C. Barton, Flora N. Amer., I. 37. The lower leaves … invested beneath with a villous pubescence.
Hence Villously adv.
1870. Hooker, Stud. Flora, 429. Empty glumes villously ciliate.
