capillation

Noun

capillation (plural capillations)

1. (obsolete) A capillary (blood vessel).
   • Nor is the humour contained in smaller veins or obscurer capillations, but in a vesicle or little bladder1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC
   • they are rather noxious to the secretive organs of the urine which, during the latter part of the time, operate still more disadvantageously on the whole organism, because they cut up, violently, the tender capillation, so needful to the economy of the blood, partly by the quick process of...1859, Carl Baunscheidt, Baunscheidtismus, page 45
2. (broadly, obsolete) A branching structure or ramification.
   • This Water is between three and four yards deep in all places, with a fine bottom of soft Marle and Sand; from every part of which in a calm day you may perceive the capillations of almost innumerable fountains, which are the principal feeders of the Tarn.1786, Thomas Hurtley, A Concise Account of Some Natural Curiosities in the Environs of Malham, page 51
   • The globular torso—the bubble-like suggestion of a head—the three fishy eyes—the foot-long proboscis—the bulging gills—the mostrous capillation of asp-like suckers— the six sinuous limbs with their black paws and crab-like claws —God !1933, H.P. Lovecraft, The Horror in the Museum
3. (obsolete) A hairline fracture of the skull.
   • CAPILLATION, or CAPILLARY fracture, according to some writers, is a fracture in the skull, so small that it can scarce be perceived; but yet it often proves mortal.1786, Ephraim Chambers, Cyclopaedia
   • Then there are papers on canthus, on canule (a canula), on caout-choue (valgairement gomme e/lastique), on capeline (a sort of bandage), on capillaire (in its botanical, physical, and anatomical meanings), on capillament (the hair of the head and of other parts of the body), on capillation (a...1913 April 5, “One Hundred Years Ago: An Encyclopaedia of Medicine in 1813”, in British Medical Journal, volume 1, page 726
4. A pattern of hair-like structures or fine, thread-like projections on the surface of an organism
   • The fact that the majority of the Burma Terebratulids have been burnt has caused the suggestion to be made that the capillation shows on this account more plainly than it would otherwise do. For in certain cases of decortication of the test a sort of capillation may be observed which does not show...1909, S. Buckman, “The Brachiopoda of the Namyau Beds”, in Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India: Palaeontologia Indica, page 184
   • Pedicle-valve ornament of concentrid lamellae and growth lines, faint capillation; spines in row at low angle to hinge, directed laterally, bases subparallel. Brachial-valve ornament similar but no spines; concentric ornament more prominent; traces of fine capillation.1960, Helen Marguerite Muir-Wood, Gustav Arthur Cooper, Morphology, Classification and Life Habits of the Productoidea (Brachiopoda), page 87
5. Hair or pelt.
   • The monarch, whose inglorious look (Having a natural-born peruke) Gave rise to this great capillation, Ill treateth sure his gallant nation, And takes too many pains by far In seeking such renown in war,1860, Thornton Leigh Hunt, “Verses on a full flowing Peruke, By Richard Honeycomb (1673)”, in The Poetical Works of Leigh Hunt, page 313
   • These markings are old, are to be regarded as the remains of the color marking and of the capillation of our animal forefathers.1924, The Urologic and Cutaneous Review - Volume 28, page 134
6. The movement of liquid by capillary action.
   • the crown of he ridge is isolated, raised out of reach of the re-active moisture from below, that supports the level of herbage of a meadow in long droughts, and confirms the benefit of the draining-tile under a level surface by increased 'capillation' set up in the soil.1856, Chandos Wren Hoskyns, “On 'Ridge-and-Furrow' Pasture Land, and a method of levelling it”, in Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, page 328
   • These manure nuggets, so to speak, are absorbers and detainers of moisture that comes up from below by capillation due to surface culture, and is easily absorbed through the dust blanket from the summer showers .1899, J.O. Barrett, “The Mulch Vs. Cultivation”, in The Minnesota Horticulturist, volume 27, page 449
7. (broadly, figuratively) A sympathetic tendency to move towards something
   • The voice flattens in pitch by the returning resonance wave, have a pitch a trifle lower, which, assisted by the lack of perfect confidence in nearly every singer, draws the voice over by sympathy in capillation.1898, Eugene Henri Kelly, Architectural Acoustics: Or, The Science of Sound, page 19
8. The problem of extra liquid adhering to the surface of a needle or pipette through capillary action, causing errors in delivering an accurate amount.
   • The main sources of error which oocur during sample application are creep back and capillation.1973, UV Spectrometry Group, Bulletin - Issues 1-5, page 15
   • We have found that the use of micropipettes helps avoid the capillation effect since only one delivery is made at a time and the effect due to capillation can be taken into account by proper calibration.1984, Tuan Vo-Dinh, Room Temperature Phosphorimetry for Chemical Analysis, page 135