The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Artery \Ar"ter*y\, n.; pl. Arteries. [L. arteria windpipe,
   artery, Gr. ?.]
   1. The trachea or windpipe. [Obs.] "Under the artery, or
      windpipe, is the mouth of the stomach." --Holland.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. (Anat.) One of the vessels or tubes which carry either
      venous or arterial blood from the heart. They have tricker
      and more muscular walls than veins, and are connected with
      them by capillaries.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: In man and other mammals, the arteries which contain
         arterialized blood receive it from the left ventricle
         of the heart through the aorta. See Aorta. The
         pulmonary artery conveys the venous blood from the
         right ventricle to the lungs, whence the arterialized
         blood is returned through the pulmonary veins.
         [1913 Webster]

   3. Hence: Any continuous or ramified channel of
      communication; as, arteries of trade or commerce.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

artery
    n 1: a blood vessel that carries blood from the heart to the
         body [syn: artery, arteria, arterial blood vessel]
    2: a major thoroughfare that bears important traffic

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

125 Moby Thesaurus words for "artery":
   Autobahn, US highway, access, aisle, alley, alleyway, ambulatory,
   aorta, aperture, arcade, arterial, arterial highway,
   arterial street, arteriole, autoroute, autostrada, avenue,
   belt highway, blind alley, blood vessel, boulevard, bypass, byway,
   camino real, capillary, carotid, carriageway, causeway, causey,
   channel, chaussee, circumferential, cloister, close, colonnade,
   communication, conduit, connection, corduroy road, corridor,
   county road, court, covered way, crescent, cul-de-sac,
   dead-end street, defile, dike, dirt road, drag, drive, driveway,
   exit, expressway, ferry, ford, freeway, gallery, gravel road,
   highroad, highway, highways and byways, inlet, interchange,
   intersection, interstate highway, jugular vein, junction, lane,
   local road, main drag, main road, mews, motorway, opening, outlet,
   overpass, parkway, pass, passage, passageway, path, pave,
   paved road, pike, place, plank road, portal vein, portico,
   primary highway, private road, pulmonary artery, pulmonary vein,
   railroad tunnel, right-of-way, ring road, road, roadbed, roadway,
   route nationale, row, royal road, secondary road, speedway,
   state highway, street, superhighway, terrace, thoroughfare,
   through street, thruway, toll road, township road, track, traject,
   trajet, tunnel, turnpike, underpass, vein, veinlet, vena cava,
   venation, venule, wynd