veins

Noun

vein (plural veins)

1. A blood vessel that transports blood from the capillaries back to the heart.
   • The nurse hovered her vein finder to locate the veins in the patient's body.
2. (in plural) The entrails of a shrimp.
3. In leaves, a thickened portion of the leaf containing the vascular bundle.
4. 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.

   Synonyms:

   reef

6. A sheetlike body of crystallized minerals within a rock.
   • They general­ly occur in the earth in what are called veins, and are seldom found in the pure metallic state, but generally in combination with some other substance, in which state they are call­ed ores.1846, editorial staff, “CHEMISTRY”, in Scientific American, series 1, Volume 2, Issue 13, page 102

See all 10 meanings of vein