Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of, relating to, or resembling milk.
  • adjective Anatomy Of or relating to any of numerous minute intestinal lymph-carrying vessels that convey chyle from the intestine to lymphatic circulation and thereby to the thoracic duct.
  • noun A lacteal vessel.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Pertaining to or resembling milk; milky.
  • Conveying a milk-like fluid; chyliferous: as, a lacteal vessel.
  • noun In anatomy, one of numerous minute tubes which absorb or take up the chyle (a milk-like fluid) from the alimentary canal and convey it to the thoracic duct.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Anat.) One of the lymphatic vessels which convey chyle from the small intestine through the mesenteric glands to the thoracic duct; a chyliferous vessel.
  • adjective Pertaining to, or resembling, milk; milky.
  • adjective (Anat. & Physiol.) Pertaining to, or containing, chyle.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Relating to milk.
  • adjective anatomy Relating to milk production.
  • noun Lactiferous ducts or other components of milk-producing organs.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun any of the lymphatic vessels that convey chyle from the small intestine to the thoracic duct
  • adjective relating to or consisting of or producing or resembling milk

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Latin lacteus, from lac, lact-, milk; see melg- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

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