capillary
UK /kəˈpɪl.ə.ɹi/ · US /ˈkæpəˌlɛri/ adjective, noun
Forms capillaries
- adjective Resembling or pertaining to hair, especially in slenderness or fineness.
- adjective Of or pertaining to a narrow tube.
- adjective Of, relating to, or caused by surface tension.
- adjective Of or relating to capillaries in the body or to capillary action.
- noun (anatomy) Any of the small blood vessels (from 5 to 10 micrometres/micrometers (μm) in diameter) that connect arteries to veins (They are the smallest blood vessels in the body: they convey blood between the arterioles and venules).
- noun (physics, chemistry) A tube or channel having a very small internal diameter, through which liquid can rise or be drawn by capillary action.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Latin capillāris (“pertaining to the hair”), from capillus (“the hair, properly of the head”), from caput (“head”).
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Resembling a hair; fine; minute; very slender; having minute tubes or interspaces; having very small bore; as, the capillary vessels of animals and plants.
- adjective Pertaining to capillary tubes or vessels; as, capillary action.
- noun A tube or vessel, extremely fine or minute.
- noun A minute, thin-walled vessel; particularly one of the smallest blood vessels connecting arteries and veins, but used also for the smallest lymphatic and biliary vessels.
Etymology [L. capillaris, fr. capillus hair. Cf. Capillaire.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “capillary”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details