Capillary

pertaining to or occurring in or as if in a tube of fine bore.
resembling a strand of hair; hairlike.
Physics.

pertaining to capillarity.
of or relating to the apparent attraction or repulsion between a liquid and a solid, observed in capillarity.

Anatomy. pertaining to a capillary or capillaries.
Anatomy. one of the minute blood vessels between the terminations of the arteries and the beginnings of the veins.
Also called capillary tube. a tube with a small bore.
Contemporary Examples

Heart of Darkness: Into Afghanistan’s Taliban Valley Matt Trevithick, Daniel Seckman November 14, 2014

Historical Examples

Conversations on Natural Philosophy, in which the Elements of that Science are Familiarly Explained Jane Haldimand Marcet and Thomas P. Jones
Common Science Carleton W. Washburne
The Social Gangster Arthur B. Reeve
The Economic Aspect of Geology C. K. Leith
The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Asa Gray
Physics Willis Eugene Tower
How it Works Archibald Williams
The Reason Why Anonymous
Manual of Surgery Alexis Thomson and Alexander Miles

adjective
resembling a hair; slender
(of tubes) having a fine bore
(anatomy) of or relating to any of the delicate thin-walled blood vessels that form an interconnecting network between the arterioles and the venules
(physics) of or relating to capillarity
noun (pl) -laries
(anatomy) any of the capillary blood vessels
a fine hole or narrow passage in any substance
adj.

n.
Blood capillary.
capillary
(kāp’ə-lěr’ē)
Any of the tiny blood vessels that connect the smallest arteries (arterioles) to the smallest veins (venules). Capillaries form a network throughout the body for the exchange of oxygen, metabolic waste products, and carbon dioxide between blood and tissue cells.
capillary [(kap-uh-ler-ee)]

Note: The interaction between the fluid and the vessel walls produces a force that can lift the fluid up into the tube, a phenomenon known as capillary action.