Adjacent Words

Capsule definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CAPSULE, n.
1. The seed vessel of a plant; a dry membranaceous hollow pericarp, opening differently in different plants. It is composed of valves or outer covering, partitions, the columella or central pillar, and cells.
2. A small saucer, made of clay for roasting samples or ores, or for melting them.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

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, capsule]
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, 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, capsule] v
1: enclose in a capsule [syn: capsule, capsulate, capsulize, capsulise]
2: put in a short or concise form; reduce in volume; "capsulize the news" [syn: encapsulate, capsule, capsulize, capsulise]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: French, from Latin capsula, diminutive of capsa box — more at case Date: circa 1693 1. a. a membrane or sac enclosing a body part (as a knee joint or kidney) b. either of two layers of white matter in the cerebrum 2. a closed receptacle containing spores or seeds: as a. a dry dehiscent usually many-seeded fruit composed of two or more carpels b. the spore case of a moss 3. a shell usually of gelatin for packaging something (as a drug or vitamins); also a usually medicinal or nutritional preparation for oral use consisting of the shell and its contents 4. an often polysaccharide envelope surrounding a microorganism 5. an extremely brief condensation ; outline, survey 6. a. a compact often sealed and detachable container or compartment b. a small pressurized compartment or vehicle (as for space flight or emergency escape) II. transitive verb (capsuled; capsuling) Date: 1859 1. to equip with or enclose in a capsule 2. to condense into or devise in a compact form III. adjective Date: 1938 1. extremely brief 2. small and very compact

U.S. Military Dictionary

(*) 1. A sealed, pressurized cabin for extremely high altitude or space flight which provides an acceptable environment for man, animal, or equipment. 2. An ejectable sealed cabin having automatic devices for safe return of the occupants to the surface.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a small soluble case of gelatine enclosing a dose of medicine and swallowed with it. 2 a detachable compartment of a spacecraft or nose-cone of a rocket. 3 an enclosing membrane in the body. 4 a a dry fruit that releases its seeds when ripe. b the spore-producing part of mosses and liverworts. 5 Biol. an enveloping layer surrounding certain bacteria. 6 (attrib.) concise; highly condensed (a capsule history of jazz). Derivatives: capsular adj. capsulate adj. Etymology: F f. L capsula f. capsa CASE(2)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Capsule Cap"sule, 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. 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. 3. (Med.) A small cylindrical or spherical gelatinous envelope in which nauseous or acrid doses are inclosed to be swallowed. 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. 5. A metallic seal or cover for closing a bottle. 6. A small cup or shell, as of metal, for a percussion cap, cartridge, etc. 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, an organ of unknown function, above or in front of each kidney.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(capsules) 1. A capsule is a very small tube containing powdered or liquid medicine, which you swallow. ...cod liver oil capsules... N-COUNT 2. A capsule is a small container with a drug or other substance inside it, which is used for medical or scientific purposes. They first implanted capsules into the animals' brains... N-COUNT 3. A space capsule is the part of a spacecraft in which people travel, and which often separates from the main rocket. A Russian space capsule is currently orbiting the Earth. N-COUNT

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Case, wrapper, envelope, covering, shell, sheath. 2. (Bot.) Pod, pericarp, seed-vessel. 3. (Chem.) Evaporating dish. 4. Percussion cap.

Moby Thesaurus

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