Definitions

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

  • noun The vagus nerve.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The tenth cranial nerve, or wandering nerve, the longest and most widely distributed of the nerves of the brain, extending through the neck and thorax to the upper part of the abdomen.
  • noun In insects, the principal visceral or stomatogastric nerve, which originates in two parts in the head, beneath the bases of the antennæ, uniting in a ganglion below the cerebrum, and passing backward along the upper surface of the intestinal canal.

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

  • adjective (Anat.) Wandering; -- applied especially to the pneumogastric nerve.

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

  • noun The vagus nerve.
  • noun Catholic A homeless person or vagrant.

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

  • noun a mixed nerve that supplies the pharynx and larynx and lungs and heart and esophagus and stomach and most of the abdominal viscera

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin vagus

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Examples

  • "We're trying to develop the technology to the point where we can do away with the electrodes that are used in vagus nerve stimulation and deep brain stimulation," ASU professor William J. Tyler told IEEE Spectrum:

    Mind control with sound and light - Boing Boing 2009

  • My sort they call vagus frivolous minds that must wander.

    A Rare Benedictine Peters, Ellis, 1913- 1988

  • They found that only fat appeared to turn on the endocannabinoid system by a signal that traveled to the brain and then to the intestines via a certain nerve bundle called the vagus, and that happened early in the process of digestion.

    Binge eating may be a high all its own 2011

  • The device, known as a vagus nerve stimulator (VNS), is implanted under the skin and sends electrical impulses to stimulate the vagus nerve in the neck.

    Is the FDA doing its job? Rob Stein 2010

  • TRUDEAU: Directly to a very important nerve bundle deep in the brain called the vagus nerve - sometimes called the wanderer, because the vagus has branches that wander throughout the body.

    Human Connections Start With A Friendly Touch 2010

  • TRUDEAU: Directly to a very important nerve bundle deep in the brain called the vagus nerve - sometimes called the wanderer, because the vagus has branches that wander throughout the body.

    Human Connections Start With A Friendly Touch 2010

  • TRUDEAU: Directly to a very important nerve bundle deep in the brain called the vagus nerve - sometimes called the wanderer, because the vagus has branches that wander throughout the body.

    Human Connections Start With A Friendly Touch 2010

  • TRUDEAU: Directly to a very important nerve bundle deep in the brain called the vagus nerve - sometimes called the wanderer, because the vagus has branches that wander throughout the body.

    Human Connections Start With A Friendly Touch 2010

  • Loewi named the substance released by the relevant nerve, called the vagus nerve, Vagusstoff; today it is known as the neurotransmitter acetylcholine.

    How the Mind Works: Revelations Rosenfield, Israel 2008

  • He has treated three other chronic hiccup patients with some success by implanting what's called a vagus nerve stimulator.

    CNN Transcript Feb 8, 2006 2006

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  • "But Doyle believes, and hopes, that the future of his field epilepsy research lies not in the relatively blunt procedure of ablation, or cutting tissue, but in augmenting brain function through electronic devices. The first of these, the vagal nerve stimulator, has been in use since 1997, and more than 50,000 have been implanted. Its purpose is to disrupt an incipient seizure by sending an electrical signal to the brain through the vagus nerve in the neck. Again, no one knows exactly why it works, but it often does."

    —Jerry Adler and Eliza Gray, with Sarah Kliff, "In the Grip of the Unknown," Newsweek, April 20, 2009

    April 22, 2009

  • Just a few short weeks after Britain's Got Talent, Susan Boyle takes neurosurgery by storm.

    April 22, 2009

  • ... with her vagus.

    April 22, 2009