emulgent

See also: émulgent

English

Etymology

Latin emulgens, present participle of emulgere (“to milk out”); so called because the kidney was regarded by the ancients as straining out the serum, as if by milking, and so producing the urine.

Adjective

emulgent

1. Of a straining or purifying process.
2. (medicine) Of the renal arteries and veins.
   • 1705, George Cheyne, “Of the Existence of a Deity”, in Philosophical Principles of Natural Religion: […], London: Printed for George Strahan […], →OCLC, § XXXV, page 213:

     By the motion of the Heart, through the Emulgent Branches, the Blood is brought to the Kidneys, and is there freed of its Serum by their little Glands, […]

   • 1734, William Stukeley, Of the Gout, page 49:

     ...the kidneys, plac'd at the extremities of two large blood-vessels, the emulgent vein and artery, derived from the great vein and artery, very soon after their parting at the heart, the fountain of circulation.

Noun

emulgent (plural emulgents)

1. (medicine) A substance promoting bile or urine production
2. A renal artery or vein.

Latin

Verb

ēmulgent

1. third-person plural present active indicative of ēmulgeō