BLADDER

bladder. Bladder, n. a vessel containing some liquid in the body as urine, bile, &c.

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Blad″der (�), n. [[OE. bladder, bleddre, AS. bl�dre, bl�ddre; akin to Icel. bla�ra, SW. bläddra, Dan. blære, D. blaar, OHG. blātara the bladder in the body of animals, G. blatter blister, bustule; all fr. the same root as AS. blāwan, E. blow, to puff. See Blow to puff.]] 1. 1. (Anat.) A bag or sac in animals, which serves as the receptacle of some fluid; as, the urinary bladder; the gall bladder; — applied especially to the urinary bladder, either within the animal, or when taken out and inflated with air.
2. 2. Any vesicle or blister, especially if filled with air, or a thin, watery fluid.
3. 3. (Bot.) A distended, membranaceous pericarp.
4. 4. Anything inflated, empty, or unsound. “To swim with bladders of philosophy.” Rochester.
Bladder nut, or Bladder tree (Bot.), a genus of plants (Staphylea) with bladderlike seed pods. — Bladder pod (Bot.), a genus of low herbs (Vesicaria) with inflated seed pods. — Bladdor senna (Bot.), a genus of shrubs (Colutea), with membranaceous, inflated pods. — Bladder worm (Zoöl.), the larva of any species of tapeworm (Tænia), found in the flesh or other parts of animals. See Measle, Cysticercus. — Bladder wrack (Bot.), the common black rock weed of the seacoast (Fucus nodosus and F. vesiculosus) — called also bladder tangle. See Wrack.