† master-vein Obs.
[See master n.1 26 a.]
1. One of the great veins or arteries of the body; spec. applied to the saphena and perh. to the carotid artery or the jugular vein.
| c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. 12604 He schet And hitte him in his gorget, That it ȝede thorow his pesayn And cut in-two his mayster-veyn. 14.. Voc. in Wr. Wülcker 632/8 Sophena, the mayster vayne. 1494 Fabyan Chron. vii. 300 At Yorke [Jews] to the nombre of .cccc. & mo, cutte theyr mayster veynys & bled to deth. 1683 Cave Ecclesiastici Introd. 36 One of the Master-Veins breaking, all the Blood in his Body emptied it self out at his Mouth. |
| fig. 1647 Trapp Marrow Gd. Authors in Comm. Ep. 732 The venome of originall lust, the master-vein wherein is Atheisme. 1677 Gilpin Demonol. (1867) 241 By some called the master-vein of our original corruption. |
¶ slang phr.| 1592 Greene Disput. Conny-c. C 1 b, My faire daughter was hit on the master vaine and gotten with childe. |
2. A principal vein in a mine.
| 1670 Pettus Fodinæ Reg. 42 For, say they, when we approach to the Master-vein of a Mine..they usuallie here knocking. |