[L. embolus piston of a pump, a. Gr. ἔμβολος peg, stopper.]
† 1. Mech. Something inserted or moving in another, such as the bar of a door, a wedge; esp. the piston of a syringe. Obs.
1669. Boyle, Contn. New Exp., I. xxxii. (1682), 106. The Embolus or Sucker of a Syringe.
1708. Kersey, Embolus, a bar of a Door, a wedge.
1739. J. Huxham, Ess. Fevers (1750), 182. Too great a Weight on the Embolus of a Syringe hinders its fair play.
1847. in Craig.
2. Pathol. ‘The body which causes EMBOLISM’ (Syd. Soc. Lex.).
1866. A. Flint, Princ. Med. (1880), 30. An embolus is a plug of some material which is transported by the blood-current from one situation to another.
1876. trans. Wagner’s Gen. Pathol., 202. The embolus is usually arrested at a part where the vessels divide.
3. Anat. ‘The osseous axis of the horns of the Ruminantia cavicornia’ (Syd. Soc. Lex.).
