umbilical
/ʌmˈbɪlɪk(ə)l
/ /ˌʌmbɪˈlʌɪk(ə)l /adjective
1Relating to or affecting the navel or umbilical cord: the umbilical artery...
- There were no differences between the two groups with respect to the foetal cardiotocographic test results, amniotic fluid volume estimation and umbilical artery pulsatility indices.
- On the other hand, the inferior mesenteric may give rise to the middle colic or to an accessory right hepatic, ‘accessory’ renal artery, or a common artery for both umbilical arteries when it arises from its usual position from the aorta.
- The required sedation to insert the umbilical artery and percutaneous central venous catheters resulted in the infants having a poor respiratory drive initially.
1.1Extremely close; inseparable: the umbilical link between commerce and international rugby...
- Instead, since the government earlier this year declared a state of emergency, aid agencies like Goal have been providing an umbilical link to people who would otherwise have nothing.
- Amateurism offered an umbilical link between the 50-year-old veteran and the international superstar since both men drank in the same clubhouse.
- That umbilical link was a sign of subordination, yet at the first sustained objection the government backed off.
1.2(Of a pipe or cable) connecting someone or something to a source of essential supplies: a tractor-mounted unit in the field is fed through an umbilical hose...
- The spacecraft was ‘tricked’ in to thinking it had left an imaginary ‘launcher’ by the opening of a number of electrical connections in its umbilical cables which simulated the launch vehicle adaptor.
- Next activities include the connection of the umbilical cables between Fregat and the LVA, through which the Venus Express spacecraft is powered and commanded while still on the ground.
- The stimulus lights are mounted in a separate module that connects to the main module via an umbilical cable.
noun
short for umbilical cord.There were also other areas to the right of the umbilicals, on the right costal margin and the waistline, on both thighs, both knees, both ankles and both hands....
- If Miki-san had heard two hearts, as I indicated in my last post, she would have refused to have the birth at her clinic, because multiple births often pose complex problems involving low birth weight, tangled umbilicals etc.
- Disaster struck, and in the terrible conditions we got our umbilicals entangled.
Derivatives
umbilically
- They're obsessed with it, they're umbilically connected to it.
- I am umbilically attached to my dictionary because my spelling is so bad.
- Ian Rankin has spent much of his life outside Scotland, but his Inspector Rebus novels are as umbilically linked to Edinburgh as Walter Scott's Waverley novels are informed by Scottish history.
Origin
Mid 16th century: from French ombilical, or based on Latin umbilicus (see umbilicus).