Syncytium

2 definitions found

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

  Syncytium \Syn*cy"ti*um\, n.; pl. {Syncitia}. [NL., from Gr. ?
     together + ? a hollow vessel.]
     1. (Biol.) Tissue in which the cell or partition walls are
        wholly wanting and the cell bodies fused together, so that
        the tissue consists of a continuous mass of protoplasm in
        which nuclei are imbedded, as in ordinary striped muscle.


        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Zool.) The ectoderm of a sponge.
        [1913 Webster] Syndactyl

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  syncytium
       n : a mass of cytoplasm containing several nuclei and enclosed
           in a membrane but no internal cell boundaries (as in
           muscle fibers)
       [also: {syncytia} (pl)]