Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The membranous sac filled with serous fluid that encloses the heart and the roots of the aorta and other large blood vessels.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In anatomy and zoology: A somewhat conically shaped membranous sac, inclosing the heart and the origin of the great vessels.
- noun A blood-sinus or special cavity beneath the carapace of a crustacean, in which the heart is suspended by ligaments and arteries, but not otherwise connected.
- noun In mollusks, the spacious dorsal cœlom or body-cavity which is traversed by the contractile vessel which acts like a heart.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Anat.) The double baglike fold of serous membrane which incloses the heart.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun anatomy, cardiology A
serous membrane that surrounds theheart allowing it to contract.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a serous membrane with two layers that surrounds the heart
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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Over at Sterne, Tim has recounted a harrowing turn of events that saw him rushed to hospital and diagnosed with Pericardia, an inflammation of the pericardium, which is the lining of the heart.
Heart Starter Kirsty 2007
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Over at Sterne, Tim has recounted a harrowing turn of events that saw him rushed to hospital and diagnosed with Pericardia, an inflammation of the pericardium, which is the lining of the heart.
Archive 2007-05-01 Kirsty 2007
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The inhabitants, however, always first drink the water in the pericardium, which is described as being best.
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The inhabitants, however, always first drink the water in the pericardium, which is described as being best.
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The heart is surrounded by a sac called the pericardium.
Bitter Harvest Ann Rule 2000
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The blood, which is a non-corpuscular fluid, is propelled forwards by the contractile dorsal vessel and collected into the central blood-sinus; this lies over the stomochord, and is surrounded on three sides by a closed vesicle, with contractile walls, called the pericardium
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 2 "Baconthorpe" to "Bankruptcy" Various
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The pericardium is a sac composed of two layers -- a fibrous membrane on the outside, and a serous one on the inside.
Hygienic Physiology : with Special Reference to the Use of Alcoholic Drinks and Narcotics Joel Dorman Steele
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The foramen here described is easily seen; but, as I have stated, there are other modes of communication between the so-called pericardium and the cavity with which the siphuncle communicates, of a far more extensive nature.
Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society - Vol. 3 Zoology Various
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It is enclosed with the ascending aorta in a single tube of the visceral layer of the serous pericardium, which is continued upward upon them from the base of the heart.
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It may be divided for purposes of description into two parts: an upper portion, above the upper level of the pericardium, which is named the superior mediastinum; and a lower portion, below the upper level of the pericardium.
slumry commented on the word pericardium
:)
July 12, 2007