a. and sb. [f. L. femor-, femur thigh + -AL.]
A. adj. Of or pertaining to the femur or thigh. Chiefly Anat., as femoral artery, bone, etc.
1782. S. Sharp, Surgery, Intr. (ed. 10), 50. The largest crooked needle … should be used … in taking up the … femoral … arteries in amputation.
1800. Med. Jrnl., IV. 333. The phænomena which occurred in a case of deep-seated femoral hernia.
1821. Scott, Kenilw., xxx. Flibbertigibbet … thrust a pin into the rear of the short femoral garment.
1840. Hood, Kilmansegg, Her Accident, xx.
| But what avails gold to Miss Kilmansegg, | |
| When the femoral bone of her dexter leg | |
| Has met with a compound fracture? |
1872. T. G. Thomas, Dis. Women, 636. They may enter the femoral, umbilical, and ischiatic openings, or form a part of ventral hernia.
B. sb. = femoral artery.
1859. R. B. Todd, The Cyclopædia of Anatomy and Physiology, V. 542/1. In the Sloth … the brachials and femorals are split up.
1881. St. George Jackson Mivart, The Cat, 213. Near its origin, the femoral gives off a large branch called the deep femoral, which passes in through the adductor muscle, and ramifies in the muscles of the hinder and outer parts of the thigh.
