comb. form, on Gr. models, of VENTER1, occurring in various terms (chiefly Anat. and Surg.), as ventro-axial a., of or pertaining to the ventral and axial portions of the human trunk; ventro-dorsal a., of sections or lines of direction: extending from venter to back; hence ventro-dorsally adv.; ventro-inguinal a., of or pertaining to the abdominal cavity and the inguinal canal; ventro-lateral a., of or belonging to the ventral and lateral sides of the body; hence ventro-laterally adv.; ventro-mesal, -mesial adjs., of or pertaining to, situated at or on, the ventrimeson; ventronudibranchiate a. [cf. NUDIBRANCHIATE a.], characterized by having naked gills depending from the ventral region; ventropodal a. [cf. PODAL a.], walking with the venter or breast touching the ground; ventro-posterior a., situated on, pertaining to the under and hinder part of an organ, etc.; ventrotomy, the operation of opening the abdomen by incision; abdominal section. (Cf. VENTRI-.)
Various other terms, as ventrocystorraphy, -fixation, -scopy, -suspension, etc., appear in recent Dicts. or special works.
1902. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 10), XXV. 399/1. These muscles may be divided into two series—those of the trunk (*ventroaxial), and those of the limb (appendicular).
1895. Funk’s Stand. Dict., s.v., *Ventro-dorsal.
1888. Encycl. Brit., XXIII. 613/1. When the heart contracts *ventro-dorsally.
1882. Wilder & Gage, Anat. Technol., 28. Ventroinguinal.
1835–6. Owen, in Todd’s Cycl. Anat., I. 522/1. *Ventro-lateral cartilages of the mantle.
1883. Martin & Moale, Verteb. Dissect., 141. The ventro-lateral aspect of the trachea.
1888. Howes & Scott, Elem. Biol. (ed. 2), 95. Slitting open the body-wall *ventro-laterally.
1882. Wilder & Gage, Anat. Technol., 36. The line … might be called dorso-lateral instead of dorso-sinistral; or it might be called *ventro-mesal.
1872. Humphry, Myology, 8. The *ventro-mesial position and relations of the pelvic bones.
a. 1843. Encycl. Metrop. (1845), VII. 289/2. The naked branchial fringes … indicate the Infero or *Ventronudi-branchiate Order [of molluscs].
1898. Shufeldt, in Ibis, Jan., 48. Audubon … gave them [grebes] both the erect attitudes, as well as, what may be termed, the *ventropodal ones.
1903. Trans. Amer. Microsc. Soc., Nov., 62 (Cent. Suppl.). The *ventro-posterior limit of the proton.
1887. H. A. Reeves in Brit. Med. Jrnl., 12 March, 593. There is much need for a single and simple word to express the operation of opening the abdominal cavity, for whatever purpose…. I would therefore suggest the use of an etymologically hybrid word, namely, *‘ventrotomy.’
