cavern
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cavern
a cave, esp when large and formed by underground water, or a large chamber in a cave
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Cavern
a cavity that develops in body organs where there is destruction and death (necrosis) of tissues and subsequent liquefaction of the necrotic masses.
Caverns may be closed, not communicating with the external environment, or open, when contents of the cavern empty to the outside through natural channels. Caverns appear most often at the site of a purulent necrotic process or specific inflammation in the lungs (cavernous tuberculosis), kidneys (an abscess that opens into the renal pelvis), or liver (a suppurative node of Echinococcus that empties into the biliary tract). The presence of a cavern fosters the spread of the pathological process and the development of complications (hemorrhage, perforation).
[11–-318–2]
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
cavern
[′kav·ərn] (geology)
An underground chamber or series of chambers of indefinite extent carved out by rock springs in limestone.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.