ventral, a. and n.
(ˈvɛntrəl)
[a. F. ventral (= Sp. and Pg. ventral, It. ventrale), or ad. L. ventrāl-is, f. venter abdomen.]
A. adj.
1. Occurring or taking place in the region of the abdomen; abdominal. a. Path. Of ruptures.
| 1739 Phil. Trans. XLI. 644 In some ventral Ruptures (as they are called) this also may be necessary. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVIII. 155/2 Ventral rupture is a protrusion of some of the bowels through the interstices of the abdominal muscles. Ibid. margin, Ventral hernia. 1838 Penny Cycl. XII. 160/1 Umbilical and ventral herniæ. 1891 Moullin Surg. 1047 Ventral Hernia, hernia through the linea alba (except at the umbilicus),..or some other part of the abdominal wall that is not usually weak. |
b. Of laughter or breathing, or in general use.
| 1859 Geo. Eliot A. Bede xii, He continued at intervals to..shake luxuriously with a silent, ventral laughter. 1860 O. W. Holmes Elsie V. (1891) 65 A trained rector, who read the service with such ventral depth of utterance. 1892 Stevenson Vailima Lett. (1895) 197 His breathing seemed wholly ventral: the bust still, the belly moving strongly. |
2. Anat. and Zool. Of, pertaining to, situated in or on, the abdomen; abdominal. a. In ventral fin. (Cf. B. 1.)
| 1752 J. Hill Hist. Anim. 242 The ventral fins are connected in a remarkable manner together. 1769 Pennant Brit. Zool. III. *34 The ventral fins placed behind the pectoral fins as in the minow. 1802 Paley Nat. Theol. xii. §8 The pectoral, and more particularly the ventral fins, serve to raise and depress the fish. 1862 Huxley Lect. Working Men 23 [In] the Codfish.. you have the hinder limbs restored in the shape of these ventral fins. |
b. In general use.
| 1817 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. xxii. II. 290 By the assistance of their mandibles,..and also of several dorsal and ventral tubercles. 1828 Stark Elem. Nat. Hist. I. 86 Mammæ six, two pectoral and four ventral. 1852 Dana Crust. i. 26 What is the proper relation of the ventral pieces of the Carapax? 1872 Huxley Physiol. i. 6 Nearer the dorsal (or back) than the ventral (or front) aspect of the body. |
c. ventral cord: (see quots.).
| 1874 Carpenter Ment. Physiology i. ii. 52 The longitudinal gangliated chain of Articulated animals is often distinguished as the ventral cord. 1880 Bastian Brain 91 The double ventral cord has a fibrous structure along its upper surface, whilst below there is an irregular stratum of ganglion cells. |
3. Bot. Of or belonging to the anterior or lower surface.
| 1832 Lindley Introd. Bot. 144 These edges often appear in the carpellum like two sutures, of which..that which corresponds to the united margins is named the ventral suture. 1870 Hooker Stud. Flora 114 Fragaria:..styles ventral. 1872 Oliver Elem. Bot. i. vii. 89 The inner angle of each carpel..answers to the line of union of its infolded edges. This line is called the ventral suture. 1875 Darwin Insectiv. Pl. xvii. 398 The lower side where the foot stalk arises is nearly straight and I have called it the ventral surface. |
4. ventral segment, in Acoustics: (see quots.).
| 1830 Herschel in Encycl. Metrop. (1845) IV. 782 Such points of rest are called nodes or nodal points, the intermediate portions [of a cord] which vibrate are termed bellies or ventral segments. 1873 W. Lees Acoustics i. iii. 24 The direct and reflective pulses..divide the string into a series of vibrating parts, called ventral segments. |
5. quasi-adv. = ventrally adv. 1.
| 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VI. 807 Structures which respectively lie ventral and lateral. |
B. n.
1. A ventral fin; one of the fins corresponding to the hind legs of quadrupeds.
| 1834 M{supc}Murtrie Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 217 The anal..seems to be continued forwards by the ventrals. 1854 Owen in Orr's Circ. Sci., Org. Nat. I. 186 The ventrals are situated near the vent. 1875 C. C. Blake Zool. 202 The pectoral fins are distant from the head, and not produced to the ventrals. |
2. Ent. One or other of the segments of the abdomen, esp. in Coleoptera. (1891 in Cent. Dict.)
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Sense A. 5 becomes A. 6. Add: [A.] 5. Aeronaut. Situated in the belly or beneath the fuselage of an aircraft.
| 1942 Aircraft of Fighting Powers III. 61/2 The ventral gun position has been much improved compared with the rather crude design fitted on the SB-3 precision bombers. 1950 Gloss. Aeronaut. Terms (B.S.I.) i. 40 Ventral tank. 1969 K. Munson Pioneer Aircraft 1903–14 67 Deperdussin Type B military single-seater, 1911... Covering: aluminium (cowling), plywood (cockpit floor and ventral fairing). 1977 R.A.F. Yearbk. 8/2 Ventral weapons bay accommodating homing torpedoes, mines, depth charges, [etc.]. 1990 FineScale Modeler Feb. 40/1, I fashioned the two ventral strakes from .020{pp} styrene. |