artery

[ahr-tuh-ree] /ˈɑr tə ri/
noun, plural arteries.
1.
Anatomy. a blood vessel that conveys blood from the heart to any part of the body.
2.
a main channel or highway, especially of a connected system with many branches.
Origin
1350-1400; Middle English < Latin artēria < Greek: windpipe, artery. See aorta
Examples from the web for arteries
  • During that month the city, except for its main tourist arteries, is a radically different place from its usual self.
  • It does however help me quite a bit to know about all the bones, ligaments, nerves and arteries that supply my shoulder.
  • It's as if our system is getting hardening of the arteries.
  • Narrowed arteries indicate the presence of coronary artery disease.
  • Consuming too many animal products also clogs our arteries and leads to heart disease, which is our nation's number one killer.
  • In places they are burned through, nicked arteries spurting water.
  • Certain systems of veins and arteries ensure blood flow when the main paths are blocked or damaged.
  • Iron is used for delivering oxygen through the arteries of the body.
  • Yet without painful surgery, there is a real danger that the arteries of finance may soon clog.
  • In the human body, it is not merely some of the main organs that can go kaput, but also the plumbing system: arteries and veins.
British Dictionary definitions for arteries

artery

/ˈɑːtərɪ/
noun (pl) -teries
1.
any of the tubular thick-walled muscular vessels that convey oxygenated blood from the heart to various parts of the body Compare pulmonary artery, vein
2.
a major road or means of communication in any complex system
Word Origin
C14: from Latin artēria, related to Greek aortē the great artery, aorta
Word Origin and History for arteries

artery

n.

late 14c., from Anglo-French arterie, Old French artaire (13c.; Modern French artère), and directly from Latin arteria, from Greek arteria "windpipe," also "an artery," as distinct from a vein; related to aeirein "to raise" (see aorta).

They were regarded by the ancients as air ducts because the arteries do not contain blood after death; medieval writers took them for the channels of the "vital spirits," and 16c. senses of artery in English include "trachea, windpipe." The word is used in reference to artery-like systems of major rivers from 1805; of railways from 1850.

arteries in Medicine

artery ar·ter·y (är'tə-rē)
n.
Any of a branching system of muscular, elastic blood vessels that, except for the pulmonary and umbilical arteries, carry aerated blood away from the heart to the cells, tissues, and organs of the body.

arteries in Science
artery
  (är'tə-rē)   
Any of the blood vessels that carry oxygenated blood away from the heart to the body's cells, tissues, and organs. Arteries are flexible, elastic tubes with muscular walls that expand and contract to pump blood through the body.

arterial adjective (är-tîr'ē-əl)
arteries in Culture

arteries definition


Blood vessels that carry blood away from the heart and to the body tissues. (Compare veins; see circulatory system.)