Definition of "thrombus" [throm•bus]

• A fibrinous clot formed in a blood vessel or in a chamber of the heart. (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.

• "If the blood clot (called a thrombus) is large enough, then the flow in the entire heart artery can be blocked off."
• "When this clot dislodges (now called a thrombus) and moves through the arteries, it plugs blood flow across both openings to arteries at a place called the aortic bifurcation (the clot looks like a saddle)."
• "They can cause blood clots, called a thrombus, which have the potential to break loose and cause damage by blocking off blood supply to tissues, most often a section of the large intestine."