• Vein

    Pronunciation

    • UK enPR: vān, IPA: /veɪn/
    • Homophones: vain, vane
    • Rhymes: -eɪn

    Origin

    From Middle English < Old French veine < Latin vēna ("a blood-vessel, vein, artery, also a watercourse, a vein of metal, a vein or streak of wood or stone, a row of trees, strength, a person's natural bent, ect."); probable origin a pipe or channel for conveying a fluid, from vehere ("to carry, convey").

    Noun

    File:Arm veins - 20090522.jpg|thumb|Veins of the

    vein

    (plural veins)
    1. (anatomy) A blood vessel that transports blood from the capillaries back to the heart
    2. (used in plural veins) The entrails of a shrimp
    3. (botany) In leaves, a thickened portion of the leaf containing the vascular bundle
    4. (zoology) The nervure of an insect’s wing
    5. A stripe or streak of a different colour or composition in materials such as wood, cheese, marble or other rocks
    6. A topic of discussion; a train of association, thoughts, emotions, etc....in the same vein...
      • Jonathan SwiftHe can open a vein of true and noble thinking.
    7. A style, tendency, or quality.The play is in a satirical vein.
      • Francis Baconcertain discoursing wits which are of the same veins
      • WallerInvoke the Muses, and improve my vein.
    8. A fissure, cleft, or cavity, as in the earth or other substance.
      • Miltondown to the veins of earth
      • Isaac NewtonLet the glass of the prisms be free from veins.

    Anagrams

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