Definition of "glomus" [glomus]

• A small body surrounded by many nerve fibers, consisting of an anastomosis between fine arterioles and veins. (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.

• "De Castro suggested rather that the glomus was an organ whose function was to react to variations in the composition of the blood, in other words an internal gustatory organ with special «chemo-receptors»."
• "Behind the angle of bifurcation of the common carotid artery is a reddish-brown oval body, known as the glomus caroticum (carotid body)."
• "Heymans not only discovered the role, hitherto quite unknown, of certain organs (glomus caroticum and glomus aorticum), he also greatly enlarged our field of knowledge concerning the regulation of respiration."