vena contracta: Meaning and Definition of

ve•na con•trac•ta

Pronunciation: (vē'nu kun-trak'tu), [key]
— pl. ve•nae con•trac•tae
  1. any of the locations in a jet of fluid emerging from an orifice where the cross section of the jet is at a minimum, esp. the location of minimum cross section nearest the orifice.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.