CORPUSCLE

atom, molecule, particle, corpuscle, mote, speck

(noun) (nontechnical usage) a tiny piece of anything

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Noun

corpuscle (plural corpuscles)

A minute particle; an atom; a molecule.

A protoplasmic animal cell; especially, such as float free, like blood, lymph, and pus corpuscles; or such as are embedded in an intercellular matrix, like connective tissue and cartilage corpuscles.

Source: Wiktionary


Cor"pus*cle (-ps-s'l), n. Etym: [L. corpusculum, dim. of corpus.]

1. A minute particle; an atom; a molecule.

2. (Anat.)

Definition: 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. Virchow showed that the corpuscles of bone are homologous with those of connective tissue. Quain's Anat. 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 hæmoglobin 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.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

1 April 2025

ANYMORE

(adverb) at the present or from now on; usually used with a negative; “Alice doesn’t live here anymore”; “the children promised not to quarrel any more”


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The first coffee-house in Mecca dates back to the 1510s. The beverage was in Turkey by the 1530s. It appeared in Europe circa 1515-1519 and was introduced to England by 1650. By 1675 the country had more than 3,000 coffee houses, and coffee had replaced beer as a breakfast drink.

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