"adventitious", medical usage

[Mark Mandel]

A sentence dictated by a doctor:
"In auscultating the lungs, there were no adventitious sounds."

This sense is not covered, or only barely, in OED. Cf. the Merriam-Webster
medical dictionary, below.

OED:

  1. Of the nature of an addition from without; extrinsically added, not
essentially inherent; supervenient, accidental, casual. Cf. the obs.
ADVENTIVE.
(quots. 1603-1846)

    2. Law. (See quot. 1751.)
1751 CHAMBERS Cycl., Adventitious, in the Civil Law, is applied to such
goods as fall to a man, either by mere fortune, or by the liberality of a
stranger, or by collateral, not direct succession. In this sense the word
stands opposed to Profectitious; by which are signified such goods as
descend in a direct line.
(quots. 1651-1880)

    3. Nat. Hist. Appearing casually, or out of the normal or usual place,
esp. in Bot. of roots, shoots, buds, etc. produced in unusual parts of the
plant.
(quots. 1676-1872)


M-W Medical (
http://www2.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwmednlm?book=Medical&va=adventitious
):
2 entries found for adventitious.

Main Entry: ad·ven·ti·tious
Function: adjective
1 a : arising sporadically or in other than the usual location <an
adventitious part in embryonic development> b : occurring spontaneously or
accidentally in a country or region to which it is not native <an
adventitious insect>
2 : ADVENTITIAL
3 : not congenital <adventitious deafness>

Main Entry: adventitious cyst
Function: noun
: a cyst formed about a foreign object in the body

m a m

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org