a. and sb. [a. F. ventral (= Sp. and Pg. ventral, It. ventrale), or ad. L. ventrāl-is, f. venter abdomen.]
A. adj. 1. Occurring or taking place in the region of the abdomen; abdominal.
a. Path. Of ruptures.
1739. Phil. Trans., XLI. 644. In some ventral Ruptures (as they are called) this also may be necessary.
1797. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), XVIII. 155/2. Ventral rupture is a protrusion of some of the bowels through the interstices of the abdominal muscles. Ibid., margin. Ventral hernia.
1838. Penny Cycl., XII. 160/1. Umbilical and ventral herniæ.
1891. Moullin, Surg., 1047. Ventral Hernia, hernia through the linea alba (except at the umbilicus),… or some other part of the abdominal wall that is not usually weak.
b. Of laughter or breathing, or in general use.
1859. Geo. Eliot, A. Bede, xii. He continued at intervals to … shake luxuriously with a silent, ventral laughter.
1860. O. W. Holmes, Elsie V. (1891), 65. A trained rector, who read the service with such ventral depth of utterance.
1892. Stevenson, Vailima Lett. (1895), 197. His breathing seemed wholly ventral: the bust still, the belly moving strongly.
2. Anat. and Zool. Of, pertaining to, situated in or on, the abdomen; abdominal.
a. In ventral fin. (Cf. B. 1.)
1752. J. Hill, Hist. Anim., 242. The ventral fins are connected in a remarkable manner together.
1769. Pennant, Brit. Zool., III. *34. The ventral fins placed behind the pectoral fins as in the minow.
1802. Paley, Nat. Theol., xii. § 8. The pectoral, and more particularly the ventral fins, serve to raise and depress the fish.
1862. Huxley, Lect. Working Men, 23. [In] the Codfish … you have the hinder limbs restored in the shape of these ventral fins.
b. In general use.
1817. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., xxii. II. 290. By the assistance of their mandibles,… and also of several dorsal and ventral tubercles.
1828. Stark, Elem. Nat. Hist., I. 86. Mammæ six, two pectoral and four ventral.
1852. Dana, Crust., I. 26. What is the proper relation of the ventral pieces of the Carapax?
1872. Huxley, Physiol., i. 6. Nearer the dorsal (or back) than the ventral (or front) aspect of the body.
c. Ventral cord: (see quots.).
1874. Carpenter, Ment. Physiology, I. ii. 52. The longitudinal gangliated chain of Articulated animals is often distinguished as the ventral cord.
1880. Bastian, Brain, 91. The double ventral cord has a fibrous structure along its upper surface, whilst below there is an irregular stratum of ganglion cells.
3. Bot. Of or belonging to the anterior or lower surface.
1832. Lindley, Introd. Bot., 144. These edges often appear in the carpellum like two sutures, of which … that which corresponds to the united margins is named the ventral suture.
1870. Hooker, Stud. Flora, 114. Fragaria:… styles ventral.
1872. Oliver, Elem. Bot., I. vii. 89. The inner angle of each carpel … answers to the line of union of its infolded edges. This line is called the ventral suture.
1875. Darwin, Insectiv. Pl., xvii. 398. The lower side where the foot stalk arises is nearly straight and I have called it the ventral surface.
4. Ventral segment, in Acoustics: (see quots.).
1830. Herschel, in Encycl. Metrop. (1845), IV. 782. Such points of rest are called nodes or nodal points, the intermediate portions [of a cord] which vibrate are termed bellies or ventral segments.
1873. W. Lees, Acoustics, I. iii. 24. The direct and reflective pulses … divide the string into a series of vibrating parts, called ventral segments.
5. quasi-adv. = VENTRALLY adv. 1.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VI. 807. Structures which respectively lie ventral and lateral.
B. sb. 1. A ventral fin; one of the fins corresponding to the hind legs of quadrupeds.
1834. H. M’Murtrie, Cuvier’s Anim. Kingd., 217. The anal … seems to be continued forwards by the ventrals.
1854. Owen, in Orr’s Circ. Sci., Org. Nat., I. 186. The ventrals are situated near the vent.
1875. C. C. Blake, Zool., 202. The pectoral fins are distant from the head, and not produced to the ventrals.
2. Ent. One or other of the segments of the abdomen, esp. in Coleoptera. (1891 in Cent. Dict.)
