# vein

Pronunciation: say "VAYN" /veɪn/

## Noun

1. A blood vessel that returns blood from the capillaries to the heart.
   - Simple: A tube in the body that carries blood back toward the heart.
   - _The surgeons carefully avoided the large vein during the operation._
   - _The veins in her hands stood out after the workout._
2. In wood, cheese, marble, or other rock, a streak or band that differs in color or composition from the material around it.
   - Simple: A line or streak of a different color or material running through wood, marble, or cheese.
   - _A dark vein of mineral wound through the polished granite._
   - _The aged cheese was shot through with greenish veins._
3. A style, tendency, or quality, especially one that runs consistently through a work or conversation.
   - Simple: A certain style, mood, or quality that runs through something.
   - _His remarks struck a more serious vein than usual._
   - _The novel's later chapters shift into a melancholy vein._
4. A sheetlike mass of crystallized minerals occurring within a rock.
   - Simple: A thin sheet of minerals that formed inside a rock.
   - _Prospectors traced the silver vein along the canyon wall._
   - _Hydrothermal veins often contain valuable ore minerals._
5. A thickened portion of a leaf that contains the vascular bundle.
   - Simple: A thin line on a leaf that carries water and food through the plant.
   - _The central vein of the leaf is called the midrib._
   - _Parallel veins run the length of grass blades._
6. A topic of discussion, or a train of associated thoughts, feelings, and ideas.
   - Simple: A line of thought or topic that someone keeps following.
   - _The conversation gradually drifted into a more personal vein._
   - _Once she got onto that vein, the old memories kept coming._
7. One of the rib-like structures, or nervures, that support and stiffen an insect's wing.
   - Simple: One of the thin lines that support an insect's wing.
   - _Entomologists identify many species by the arrangement of the wing veins._
   - _A single vein runs along the leading edge of the wing._
8. An opening such as a crack, cleft, or cavity that runs through the earth or through some other substance.
   - Simple: A crack or hollow space in the ground or in another material.
   - _A deep vein in the cliff face channeled rainwater underground._
   - _Cold drafts rose from veins in the cavern floor._
10. The intestinal tract, or entrails, of a shrimp.
   - Simple: The dark thread inside a shrimp that you take out before eating.
   - _Pull the vein from the back of each shrimp before grilling._
   - _Properly cleaned shrimp have had their veins removed._

## Verb

9. To cover or streak something with veins or with lines resembling them.
   - Simple: To mark something with lines that look like veins.
   - _Streaks of red wine veined the white tablecloth._
   - _Bolts of lightning seemed to vein the dark sky._

## Origin

From Middle English veyne, borrowed from Anglo-Norman veine, from Latin vēna ("a blood vessel; vein; artery"), which is of uncertain origin. It is a doublet of vena and displaced the native word edre.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/vein (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).