Plastid

2 definitions found

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

  Plastid \Plas"tid\, Plastide \Plas"tide\, n. [Gr. ?, ?, a
     creator.]
     1. (Biol.) A formative particle of albuminous matter; a
        monad; a cytode. See the Note under {Morphon}. [Archaic]
        --Haeckel.
        [1913 Webster]


  
     2. (Bot.) any of several types of minute granules found in
        the protoplasm of vegetable cells, having their own
        membrane, robosomes, and DNA. Among plant cells the most
        common are {chloroplasts}, which contain the chlorophyll
        and the photosynthetic machinery of the cell. They are
        divided by their colors into three classes,
        chloroplastids, chromoplastids, and leucoplastids.
        [1913 Webster +PJC]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  plastid
       n : any of various small particles in the cytoplasm of the cells
           of plants and some animals containing pigments or starch
           or oil or protein