embolus

Etymology

From Latin embolus (“piston”), from Ancient Greek ἔμβολος (émbolos, “peg, stopper”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛmbələs/

Noun

embolus (plural emboli or emboluses)

1. (pathology) An obstruction causing an embolism: a blood clot, air bubble or other matter carried by the bloodstream and causing a blockage or occlusion of a blood vessel.
2. (zoology) The structure on the end of the palp of male arachnids which contains the opening to the ejaculatory duct.
   • 1996, Michael J Roberts, Spiders of Britain and Northern Europe, Collins 1996, p. 22:

     Those spiders with a simple bulb insert most of this; those with a complex palp insert only the embolus, which in some species is very long […]

Noun

embolus m

1. embolus (an obstruction causing an embolism)

Further reading

• embolus in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• embolus in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

Etymology

From Ancient Greek [Term?].

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈem.bo.lus/, [ˈɛm.bɔ.ɫʊs]

Noun

embolus m (genitive embolī); second declension

1. piston

References

• embolus in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• embolus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• embolus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette