Săl'va-tĕl'lă, n.

n. [Lat., prob. dim. of salvator, saver, from salvare, to save.] (Anat.) A vein situated upon the back of the hand near its inner margin;—so called because it was customarily opened, among the ancients, in certain diseases, as melancholic and hypochondriacal affections, the abstraction of blood from it being considered efficacious. Dunglison.