Capsule

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Capsule \Cap"sule\ (k[a^]p"s[=u]l), n. [L. capsula a little box
     or chest, fr. capsa chest, case, fr. capere to take, contain:
     cf. F. capsule.]
     1. (Bot.) a dry fruit or pod which is made up of several
        parts or carpels, and opens to discharge the seeds, as,
        the capsule of the poppy, the flax, the lily, etc.


        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Chem.)
        (a) A small saucer of clay for roasting or melting samples
            of ores, etc.; a scorifier.
        (b) a small, shallow, evaporating dish, usually of
            porcelain.
            [1913 Webster]
  
     3. (Med.) A small cylindrical or spherical gelatinous
        envelope in which nauseous or acrid doses are inclosed to
        be swallowed.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. (Anat.) A membranous sac containing fluid, or investing an
        organ or joint; as, the capsule of the lens of the eye.
        Also, a capsulelike organ.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     5. A metallic seal or cover for closing a bottle.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     6. A small cup or shell, as of metal, for a percussion cap,
        cartridge, etc.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Atrabiliary capsule}. See under {Atrabiliary}.
  
     {Glisson's capsule}, a membranous envelope, entering the
        liver along with the portal vessels and insheathing the
        latter in their course through the organ.
  
     {Suprarenal capsule}, a ductless gland secreting epinephrine,
        norepinephrine, and steroid hormones, on the upper end of
        each kidney. It is also called the {adrenal gland},
        {glandula suprarenalis}, {suprarenal gland}, {epinephros},
        {atrabiliary capsule}, and {adrenal capsule}.
        [1913 Webster +PJC]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  capsule
       n 1: a small container
       2: a pill in the form of a small rounded gelatinous container
          with medicine inside
       3: a dry dehiscent seed vessel or the spore-containing
          structure of e.g. mosses
       4: a shortened version of a written work [syn: {condensation},
          {abridgement}, {abridgment}]
       5: a structure that encloses a body part
       6: a spacecraft designed to transport people and support human
          life in outer space [syn: {space capsule}]
       7: a pilot's seat in an airplane that can be forcibly ejected
          in the case of an emergency; then the pilot descends by
          parachute [syn: {ejection seat}, {ejector seat}]
       v 1: enclose in a capsule [syn: {capsulate}, {capsulize}, {capsulise}]
       2: put in a short or concise form; reduce in volume; "capsulize
          the news" [syn: {encapsulate}, {capsulize}, {capsulise}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  180 Moby Thesaurus words for "capsule":
     Earth insertion, LEM, LM, abbreviated, abbreviation, abbreviature,
     abrege, abridge, abridged, abridgment, abstract, abstracted,
     amnion, apogee, attitude-control rocket, bag, ballistic capsule,
     bark, barrel, basket, bladder, bleb, blister, bobbed, boll, bolus,
     botany, bottle, box, box up, bran, brief, burn, burr, calyx, can,
     canned, capsulize, capsulized, carton, case, cask, cell, chaff,
     clipped, cod, compend, compressed, condensation, condense,
     condensed, condensed version, conspectus, corn shuck, cornhusk,
     crate, cropped, curtailed, cut short, cyst, deep-space ship,
     digest, digested, docked, docking, docking maneuver, draft, elided,
     elliptic, encase, encyst, epitome, ferry rocket, fistula, follicle,
     fuel ship, gallbladder, hamper, head, hull, husk, injection,
     insertion, jacket, jar, legume, legumen, loculus, lozenge,
     lunar excursion module, lunar module, manned rocket, marsupium,
     module, moon ship, mowed, mown, multistage rocket, nipped,
     nutshell, orbit, outline, overview, pack, package, palea, pandect,
     parcel, parking orbit, pease cod, peel, pericarp, perigee, pill,
     pocket, pod, pollard, polled, pot, potted, precis, pruned, reaped,
     reentry, review, rind, rocket, rubric, sac, saccule, sacculus,
     saccus, sack, scrotum, seed pod, seed vessel, seedbox, seedcase,
     shaved, sheared, shell, short-cut, shorten, shortened,
     shortened version, shuck, shuttle rocket, silique, sinus, skeleton,
     sketch, sketch out, skin, snub, snubbed, soft landing, sound,
     space capsule, space docking, space rocket, spacecraft, spaceship,
     stomach, summarize, survey, syllabus, synopsis, synopsize, tablet,
     tank, thumbnail sketch, tin, topical outline, trimmed, troche,
     udder, vasculum, ventricle, vesica, vesicle