Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Lung
Lung
(lŭng)
, Noun.
[OE.
lunge
, AS. lunge
, pl. lungen
; akin to D. long
, G. lunge
, Icel. & Sw. lunga
, Dan. lunge
, all prob. from the root of E. light
. √125. See Light
not heavy.] (Anat.)
An organ for aërial respiration; – commonly in the plural.
☞ In all air-breathing vertebrates the lungs are developed from the ventral wall of the esophagus as a pouch which divides into two sacs. In amphibians and many reptiles the lungs retain very nearly this primitive saclike character, but in the higher forms the connection with the esophagus becomes elongated into the windpipe and the inner walls of the sacs become more and more divided, until, in the mammals, the air spaces become minutely divided into tubes ending in small air cells, in the walls of which the blood circulates in a fine network of capillaries. In mammals the lungs are more or less divided into lobes, and each lung occupies a separate cavity in the thorax. See
Respiration
. Lung fever
(Med.)
, pneumonia.
– Lung flower
(Bot.)
, a species of gentian (
– Gentian Pneumonanthe
). Lung lichen
(Bot.)
, tree lungwort. See under
– Lungwort
. Lung sac
(Zool.)
, one of the breathing organs of spiders and snails.
Webster 1828 Edition
Lung
LUNG
, n.1.
The lungs are the organs of respiration in man and many other animals. There are two of these organs, each of which occupies its cavity in the thorax. They alternately inhale and expel the air, by means of which the necessary function of respiration is carried on.Each lung fills completely the cavity in which it is placed.
2.
Formerly, a person having a strong voice, and a sort of servant.