capillary

[kap-uh-ler-ee] /ˈkæp əˌlɛr i/
adjective
1.
pertaining to or occurring in or as if in a tube of fine bore.
2.
resembling a strand of hair; hairlike.
3.
Physics.
  1. pertaining to capillarity.
  2. of or pertaining to the apparent attraction or repulsion between a liquid and a solid, observed in capillarity.
4.
Anatomy. pertaining to a capillary or capillaries.
noun, plural capillaries.
5.
Anatomy. one of the minute blood vessels between the terminations of the arteries and the beginnings of the veins.
6.
Also called capillary tube. a tube with a small bore.
Origin
1570-80; capill(ar) (obsolete, < Latin capillāris pertaining to hair, equivalent to capill(us) hair + -āris -ar1) + -ary
Related forms
intercapillary, adjective
noncapillary, adjective, noun, plural noncapillaries.
Examples from the web for capillary
  • capillary action from a split in the head of the pen allows ink to flow.
  • Adipose tissues, in general, have low capillary density and are poorly perfused.
  • When a crack occurs, the healing chemicals flow by capillary action to the crack.
  • The really exciting news, however, is that in certain materials the hydro-capillary effect can be controlled electronically.
  • capillary rise into inter-filament gaps must be overcome in addition to individual filament wetting.
  • At the water surface, where capillary waves are spreading the longitudinal waves exists on both lower, both higher wavelengths.
  • The form of the capillary net varies in the different tissues, the meshes being generally rounded or elongated.
  • The nasal cavity has extensive capillary plexuses in the mucosa and submucosa.
  • They open into the spaces, and from them are also given off small capillary branches to supply the trabecular structure.
  • In the red muscles of the rabbit dilatations occur on the transverse branches of the capillary network.
British Dictionary definitions for capillary

capillary

/kəˈpɪlərɪ/
adjective
1.
resembling a hair; slender
2.
(of tubes) having a fine bore
3.
(anatomy) of or relating to any of the delicate thin-walled blood vessels that form an interconnecting network between the arterioles and the venules
4.
(physics) of or relating to capillarity
noun (pl) -laries
5.
(anatomy) any of the capillary blood vessels
6.
a fine hole or narrow passage in any substance
Word Origin
C17: from Latin capillāris, from capillus hair
Word Origin and History for capillary
adj.

1650s, "of or pertaining to the hair," from Latin capillaris "of hair," from capillus "hair" (of the head); perhaps related to caput "head" (but de Vaan finds this "difficult on the formal side" and "far from compelling, since capillus is a diminutive, and would mean 'little head', which hardly amounts to 'hair'"). Borrowed earlier as capillar (14c.). Meaning "taking place in capillary vessels" is from 1809. Capillary attraction attested from 1813. As a noun, "capillary blood vessel," from 1660s.

capillary in Medicine

capillary cap·il·lary (kāp'ə-lěr'ē)
adj.

  1. Of or relating to the capillaries.

  2. Relating to or resembling a hair; fine and slender.

n.
Blood capillary.
capillary in Science
capillary
  (kāp'ə-lěr'ē)   
Any of the tiny blood vessels that connect the smallest arteries (arterioles) to the smallest veins (venules). Capillaries form a network throughout the body for the exchange of oxygen, metabolic waste products, and carbon dioxide between blood and tissue cells.
capillary in Culture
capillary [(kap-uh-ler-ee)]

A thin tube, such as a blood vessel or a straw, through which fluids flow.

Note: The interaction between the fluid and the vessel walls produces a force that can lift the fluid up into the tube, a phenomenon known as capillary action.