arterial vein

ar·te·ri·al vein

a vein so called because it ramifies like an artery (portal vein) or because, while proceeding from the heart like an artery, it contains unoxygenated blood, like a vein (pulmonary artery).
Synonym(s): vena arteriosa
References in classic literature ?
the hollow vein (vena cava), which is the principal receptacle of the blood, and the trunk of the tree, as it were, of which all the other veins in the body are branches; and the arterial vein (vena arteriosa), inappropriately so denominated, since it is in truth only an artery, which, taking its rise in the heart, is divided, after passing out from it, into many branches which presently disperse themselves all over the lungs; in the second place, the cavity in the left side, with which correspond in the same manner two canals in size equal to or larger than the preceding, viz.
In the next place, the consistency of the coats of which the arterial vein and the great artery are composed, sufficiently shows that the blood is impelled against them with more force than against the veins.
View in context
The skill of the surgeon as he delicately stitched a wobbling piece of arterial vein to the still pulsating heart was beyond anything else I've ever seen.
A REAL LITTLE HEART-THROB
He cut through an arterial vein on the second wound.
`Murderer Hampson must never be free'
Medical browser ?
Full browser ?