subcutaneous, a.
(sʌbkjuːˈteɪnɪəs)
[f. late L. subcutāneus, f. sub- sub- 1 b + cutis skin + -āneus: see -eous. Cf. It. subcutaneo; F. souscutané.]
1. Lying or situated under the skin.
| 1656 Blount Glossogr., Subcutaneous, between the skin and the flesh. 1698 A. de la Pryme Diary (Surtees) 180 A kind of a dropsy, or a gathering together of a subcutanious water. 1744 Phil. Trans. XLIII. 117 It is very probable, that none of the subcutaneous Juices are opaque. 1831 Knox Cloquet's Anat. 141 The subcutaneous cellular tissue is traversed by large veins. 1835–6 Todd's Cycl. Anat. I. 466 note, In general the anomalous artery is the radial, and is subcutaneous in its course. 1872 Bryant Pract. Surg. 12 The healing of subcutaneous wounds. |
2. Living under the skin.
| 1664 Power Exp. Philos. i. 22 This almost invisible sub⁓cutaneous Inhabitant. 1815 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. iv. (1818) I. 86 It does not appear..that the species..are..sub⁓cutaneous. 1849 Proc. Berw. Nat. Club II. vii. 361 The larva is subcutaneous in the leaves of the common Chickweed. |
3. Of operations, etc.: Performed or taking place under the skin; characterized by application of a remedy beneath the skin; hence, of instruments by which such operations are performed or remedies administered; hypodermic.
| 1651 Biggs New Disp. ¶241 A subcutaneous expurgation, should be sent out by the high way and sink of all sordid excrements. 1868 Garrod Mat. Med. (ed. 3) 381 The method of introducing medicine into the system by subcutaneous injection has gained much ground of late. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., Subcutaneous Syringe, an instrument for injecting medicinal solutions beneath the skin. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 935 The subcutaneous administration of anti⁓toxic serum. |
Hence subcuˈtaneously adv., under the skin, hypodermically; subcuˈtaneousness.
| 1727 Bailey (vol. II), Subcutaneousness, the lying under the Skin. 1875 H. C. Wood Therap. (1879) 231 When the drug is given subcutaneously. 1885 Klein Micro-Org. 46 Saliva of the healthy dog and of man inoculated subcutaneously into rabbits sometimes produces death. |