Pl. vaginæ, vaginas. [L. vāgīna sheath, scabbard. Cf. F. vagin (1762), † vagina, Pg. vagina.]
1. Anat. and Med. The membranous canal leading from the vulva to the uterus in women and female mammals.
1682. Gibson, Anat., 20. It has passages … for the neck of the Bladder, and in Women for the vagina of the Womb.
1754–64. Smellie, Midwifery, I. 95. The upper end of the vagina is joined to the circumference of the lips of the os uteri.
1805. Med. Jrnl., XIV. 21. Neither could we discover by the touch any communication between the rectum and vagina.
1847. Youatt, Horse, viii. 174. The true polypus … is usually found in the nostrils, the pharynx, the uterus, or the vagina.
1896. trans. Boas’ Text-bk. Zool., 490. In the Marsupials … the two vaginæ open separately on the floor of the urinogenital sinus.
b. A canal or organ having similar form or function in other animals; a genital passage.
1826. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., IV. 146. This vessel, which consists of a double tunic, in the cabbage-butterfly terminates the vagina.
1871. T. R. Jones, Anim. Kingd. (ed. 4), 358. Female generative organs of the Queen Bee:… e, vagina, or common excretory duct.
2. A part or formation serving as or suggestive of a sheath; a sheath-like covering, organ, or part; a theca.
1713. Derham, Phys.-Theol., VIII. iv. (1727), 363, note. The Female hath vaginæ prettily furrow’d; the Male smooth. Ibid., 365. Many of them provided with the finest Articulations, and Foldings, for the Wings to be withdrawn, and neatly laid up in their Vaginæ, and Cases.
1771. Encycl. Brit., I. 191/1. The fibres [of the muscles] are … distinguished by membranous, cellular, or adipose septa, as by so many particular vaginæ.
1826. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., III. 361. Vagina (the Vagina), the jointed sheath of the Promuscis, representing the Labium in a perfect mouth.
b. Bot. = SHEATH sb.1 2 b.
1720. P. Blair, Bot. Ess., i. 28. Sometimes they are covered with a Vagina or Sheath at the top.
1731. P. Miller, Gard. Dict., s.v. Narcissus, The Empalement, which commonly rises out of a membranous Vagina.
1832. Lindley, Introd. Bot., I. ii. 95. Occasionally the petiole embraces the branch from which it springs, and in such cases is said to be sheathing; and is even called a sheath or vagina, as in grasses.
1857. Henfrey, Bot., § 75. The sheathing portion … or vagina.
c. Sculpture. The lower part of a terminus, out of which the bust or figure appears to rise. (So F. gaîne.) rare–0.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v., The Vagina is that long Part between the Base and the Capital; and is found in divers Manners, and with divers Ornaments.
Hence Vagina-less a.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., II. 1061. I have recently pointed out … the process by which the embryo dracunculi quit the body of the vaginaless parent worm.
