vein

Etymology

From Middle English veyne, borrowed from Anglo-Norman veine, from Latin vēna (“a blood-vessel; vein; artery”) of uncertain origin. See vēna for more. Doublet of vena. Displaced native edre, from ǣdre (whence edder).

noun

1. (anatomy) A blood vessel that transports blood from the capillaries back to the heart.
2. (in the plural) The entrails of a shrimp.
3. (botany) In leaves, a thickened portion of the leaf containing the vascular bundle.
4. (zoology) The nervure of an insect’s wing.
5. A stripe or streak of a different colour or composition in materials such as wood, cheese, marble or other rocks.
   1. (geology) A sheetlike body of crystallized minerals within a rock.
6. (figurative) A topic of discussion; a train of association, thoughts, emotions, etc.
   in the same vein
   He[…]is able to open new scenes, and discover a vein of true and noble thinking. 1712, Jonathan Swift, A Proposal For Correcting, Improving, and Ascertaining the English Tongue
   Come ride with me Through the veins of history, I'll show you how God Falls asleep on the job 2006, Matt Bellamy (lyrics and music), “Knights of Cydonia”, in Black Holes and Revelations, performed by Muse
7. (figurative) A style, tendency, or quality.
   The play is in a satirical vein.
   Invoke the Muses, and improve my vein. 1645, Edmund Waller, The Battle Of The Summer Islands
8. A fissure, cleft, or cavity, as in the earth or other substance.

verb

1. To mark with veins or a vein-like pattern.
   […] as he ceased from that wild imprecation, a faint flash of lightning veined the remote horizon, and a low clap of thunder rumbled afar off, echoing among the hills […] 1853, Henry William Herbert, chapter 18, in The Roman Traitor, volume II, Philadelphia: T.B. Peterson, page 204
   We brought out our maps of the region and showed him the old routes and trails veining the whole of it. […] 1920, Melville Davisson Post, chapter 14, in The Sleuth of St. James’s Square