Definition of "villus" []

• Biology A minute projection arising from a mucous membrane, especially: (noun)
• Biology One of the numerous vascular projections of the small intestine. (noun)
• Biology One of the fingerlike projections of the chorion that contribute to the formation of the placenta in mammals. (noun)
• Botany A fine, hairlike epidermal outgrowth. (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.

• "In the northeast, lowland grasslands, locally known as villus, are associated with the floodplains of the river systems."
• "In the center of the villus is another vessel, with thinner and more transparent walls, which is the commencement of a lacteal."
• "The mature enterocytes at the tip of the villus are the cells that are most susceptible to IR"