ventricose, a.
(vɛntrɪˈkəʊs)
[ad. mod.L. ventricōsus, f. L. ventr-, venter belly venter1: see -ic and -ose.]
1. Swelling out in the middle, or on one side, after the manner of an animal's belly; bellied, protuberant, strongly convex. a. Bot. (esp. of the corolla or calyx).
| 1756 J. Hill Hist. Plants 153 (Jod.), There is no pericarpium; but the calix becomes more ventricose, and contains a single seed. 1785 Martyn Lett. Bot. xvi. (1794) 179 In Comfrey and Cerinthe the corolla is ventricose. 1821 W. P. C. Barton Flora N. Amer. I. 13 Capsule setigerous.., included in the ventricose calix. 1841 Florist's Jrnl. (1846) II. 243 The flowers are white and ventricose. 1872 Oliver Elem. Bot. App. 310 Outer Glumes [of wheat] nearly equal,..ventricose. |
b. Conch. (Usually of the body of the shell.)
| 1770 Pennant Brit. Zool. IV. 123 M[urex] carinatus with five or six spires, the body ventricose. 1828 Stark Elem. Nat. Hist. II. 79 Shell rounded, ventricose, golden red. 1851 S. P. Woodward Mollusca i. 70 Cranchia. Body large, ventricose. Ibid. 110 Whirls ventricose. 1865 Gosse Land & Sea 155 Their ventricose or parallel-sided form. |
| Comb. 1828 Stark Elem. Nat. Hist. II. 25 Shell oblong, ventricose-cylindrical. |
c. Zool. or
Anat.| 1804 Shaw Gen. Zool. V. ii. 394 Ventricose Sucker... Olivaceous Sucker, with ventricose abdomen. 1813 Montagu Ornith. Dict. Suppl. s.v. Golden-eye, The ventricose part consists of the same cartilaginous rings as the rest of the windpipe. 1835–6 Todd's Cycl. Anat. I. 533 The ventricose and short-bodied species of Cephalopoda. 1841 E. Newman Hist. Insects iii. iii. 185 The gullet..is ventricose or ventricosus when it dilates into a large bag or crop before its union with the stomach. |
2. Of persons: Big-bellied; having an unusually or abnormally large abdomen.
| 1843 F. E. Paget Warden Berkingholt 266 The Reverend Rory O'Flannigan rose like the full moon..when first she peeps from behind the hill, rubicund, coppery, ventricose. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. ii. xxv. 248 Ending with the ventricose little Accommodah. 1876 W. Roberts Urin. & Renal Dis. iii. viii. (ed. 3) 485 A little boy, who had been ventricose from birth. |
Hence
ventriˈcoseness,
ventriˈcosity.
| 1857 W. Turton Land & Fresh-W. Shells 183 [The shell] varies greatly in size, ventricoseness, and colour. 1868 Proc. Zool. Soc. May 374 The greater ventricosity of form..of M[elo] georginæ. 1909 J. W. Jenkinson Exper. Embryol. 71 The ‘ventricosity’ (ratio of breadth to length) of the shell of the Periwinkle. |