Corpuscle definition

Corpuscle





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3 definitions found

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

  Corpuscle \Cor"pus*cle\ (-p[u^]s*s'l), n. [L. corpusculum, dim.
     of corpus.]
     1. A minute particle; an atom; a molecule.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Anat.) A protoplasmic animal cell; esp., such as float


        free, like blood, lymph, and pus corpuscles; or such as
        are imbedded in an intercellular matrix, like connective
        tissue and cartilage corpuscles. See {Blood}.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Virchow showed that the corpuscles of bone are
              homologous with those of connective tissue.
                                                    --Quain's
                                                    Anat.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. (Physics) An electron. [archaic]
        [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
  
     {Red blood corpuscles} (Physiol.), in man, yellowish,
        biconcave, circular discs varying from 1/3500 to 1/3200 of
        an inch in diameter and about 1/12400 of an inch thick.
        They are composed of a colorless stroma filled in with
        semifluid h[ae]moglobin and other matters. In most mammals
        the red corpuscles are circular, but in the camels, birds,
        reptiles, and the lower vertebrates generally, they are
        oval, and sometimes more or less spherical in form. In
        Amphioxus, and most invertebrates, the blood corpuscles
        are all white or colorless.
  
     {White blood corpuscles} (Physiol.), rounded, slightly
        flattened, nucleated cells, mainly protoplasmic in
        composition, and possessed of contractile power. In man,
        the average size is about 1/2500 of an inch, and they are
        present in blood in much smaller numbers than the red
        corpuscles.
        [1913 Webster]

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

  Electron \E*lec"tron\, n. [NL., fr. Gr. 'h`lektron. See
     {Electric}.]
     1. Amber; also, the alloy of gold and silver, called
        {electrum}. [archaic]
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Physics & Chem.) one of the fundamental subatomic
        particles, having a negative charge and about one
        thousandth the mass of a hydrogen atom. The electron
        carries (or is) a natural unit of negative electricity,
        equal to 3.4 x 10^{-10} electrostatic units, and is
        classed by physicists as a {lepton}. Its mass is
        practically constant at the lesser speeds, but increases
        due to relativistic effects as the velocity approaches
        that of light. Electrons are all of one kind, so far as is
        known. Thus far, no structure has been detected within an
        electron, and it is probably one of the ultimate composite
        constituents of all matter. An atom or group of atoms from
        which an electron has been detached has a positive charge
        and is called a {cation}. Electrons are projected from the
        cathode of vacuum tubes (including television picture
        tubes) as {cathode rays} and from radioactive substances
        as the {beta rays}. Previously also referred to as
        {corpuscle}, an obsolete term. The motion of electrons
        through metallic conductors is observed as an electric
        current. A particle identical to the electron in mass and
        most other respects, but having a positive instead of a
        negative charge, is called a {positron}, or {antielectron}
        [Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC] Electro-negative

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  corpuscle
       n 1: (nontechnical usage) a tiny piece of anything [syn: {atom},
            {molecule}, {particle}, {mote}, {speck}]
       2: either of two types of cells (erythrocytes and leukocytes)
          and sometimes including platelets [syn: {blood cell}, {blood
          corpuscle}]

















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