Definition of "embolus" [em•bo•lus]

• A mass, such as an air bubble, a detached blood clot, or a foreign body, that travels through the bloodstream and lodges so as to obstruct or occlude a blood vessel. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Patients with clotting disorders may develop a pulmonary embolus, that is, they throw a clot that lodges in the blood vessels of the lung."
• "This practice can produce an air embolus air bubble in your blood, a potentially fatal condition."
• "The tall man who is a bleeder; my son with thyroid disease; my neighbor with breast cancer; or me with my pulmonary embolus: we did not choose these things, cannot be held responsible, and should not pay more."