[ad. L. vēnula, dim. of vēna VEIN sb. Cf. F. veinule and VEINULET.] A small or minor vein.
a. Bot. 1850. Ogilvie, Venules,… the name given to the last ramifications of the veins of a leaf, which intermingle frequently, and form the skeleton.
1857. T. Moore, Handbk. Brit. Ferns (ed. 3), 8. The branches of the veins are venules, and the branches of the venules are veinlets.
1866. J. South, Ferns Brit. & For. (1879), 101. Venules arcuately or angularly anastomosing, producing two or more excurrent free veinlets.
b. Anat. a. 1852. Macgillivray, Nat. Hist. Dee Side (1855), 171. The minute glandular bodies are all situated on the venules, and are of a circular form.
1876. Trans. Clinical Soc., IX. 91. The white cells accumulate in the small venules in surprising numbers.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VIII. 826. The venules on the skin of the nose and cheeks of old people.
