Adjacent Words

Cell definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CELL, n.
1. A small or close apartment, as in a prison, or a bath.
2. A cottage; a cave; a small or mean place of residence.
3. A small cavity or hollow place, variously applied; as the cells of the brain; the cells of a honey comb, etc.
4. In botany, a hollow place in a pericarp, particularly in a capsule, in which seeds are lodged. According to the number of these cells, pericarps are called unilocular, bilocular, trilocular, etc.
5. In anatomy, a little bag, or bladder, containing fluid or other matter; as the adipose cells, containing fat.
6. A religious house.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: any small compartment; "the cells of a honeycomb"
2: (biology) the basic structural and functional unit of all organisms; they may exist as independent units of life (as in monads) or may form colonies or tissues as in higher plants and animals
3: a device that delivers an electric current as the result of a chemical reaction [syn: cell, electric cell]
4: a small unit serving as part of or as the nucleus of a larger political movement [syn: cell, cadre]
5: a hand-held mobile radiotelephone for use in an area divided into small sections, each with its own short-range transmitter/receiver [syn: cellular telephone, cellular phone, cellphone, cell, mobile phone]
6: small room in which a monk or nun lives [syn: cell, cubicle]
7: a room where a prisoner is kept [syn: cell, jail cell, prison cell]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English, from Old English, religious house and Anglo-French celle hermit's cell, from Latin cella small room; akin to Latin celare to conceal — more at hell Date: 12th century 1. a small religious house dependent on a monastery or convent 2. a. a one-room dwelling occupied by a solitary person (as a hermit) b. a single room (as in a convent or prison) usually for one person 3. a small compartment, cavity, or bounded space: as a. one of the compartments of a honeycomb b. a membranous area bounded by veins in the wing of an insect 4. a small usually microscopic mass of protoplasm bounded externally by a semipermeable membrane, usually including one or more nuclei and various other organelles with their products, capable alone or interacting with other cells of performing all the fundamental functions of life, and forming the smallest structural unit of living matter capable of functioning independently 5. a. (1) a receptacle containing electrodes and an electrolyte either for generating electricity by chemical action or for use in electrolysis (2) fuel cell b. a single unit in a device for converting radiant energy into electrical energy or for varying the intensity of an electrical current in accordance with radiation 6. a unit in a statistical array (as a spreadsheet) formed by the intersection of a column and a row 7. a basic and usually small unit of an organization or movement <terrorist cells> 8. a portion of the atmosphere that behaves as a unit <a storm cell> 9. a. any of the small sections of a geographic area of a cellular telephone system b. cell phone

NOAA Weather Glossary

Convection in the form of a single updraft, downdraft, orupdraft/downdraft couplet, typically seen as a vertical dome or tower as in a cumulus ortowering cumulus cloud. A typical thunderstorm consists of several cells

U.S. Military Dictionary

A subordinate organization formed around a specific process, capability, or activity within a designated larger organization of a joint force commander's headquarters. A cell usually is part of both a functional and traditional staff structures. (JP 3-33)

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a small room, esp. in a prison or monastery. 2 a small compartment, e.g. in a honeycomb. 3 a small group as a nucleus of political activity, esp. of a subversive kind. 4 hist. a small monastery or nunnery dependent on a larger one. 5 Biol. a the structural and functional usu. microscopic unit of an organism, consisting of cytoplasm and a nucleus enclosed in a membrane. b an enclosed cavity in an organism etc. 6 Electr. a vessel for containing electrodes within an electrolyte for current-generation or electrolysis. Derivatives: celled adj. (also in comb.). Etymology: ME f. OF celle or f. L cella storeroom etc.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Polar Po"lar, a. [Cf. F. polaire. See Pole of the earth.] 1. Of or pertaining to one of the poles of the earth, or of a sphere; situated near, or proceeding from, one of the poles; as, polar regions; polar seas; polar winds. 2. Of or pertaining to the magnetic pole, or to the point to which the magnetic needle is directed. 3. (Geom.) Pertaining to, reckoned from, or having a common radiating point; as, polar co["o]rdinates. Polar axis, that axis of an astronomical instrument, as an equatorial, which is parallel to the earths axis. Polar bear (Zo["o]l.), a large bear (Ursus, or Thalarctos, maritimus) inhabiting the arctic regions. It sometimes measures nearly nine feet in length and weighs 1,600 pounds. It is partially amphibious, very powerful, and the most carnivorous of all the bears. The fur is white, tinged with yellow. Called also White bear. See Bear. Polar body, cell, or globule (Biol.), a minute cell which separates by karyokinesis from the ovum during its maturation. In the maturation of ordinary ova two polar bodies are formed, but in parthogenetic ova only one. The first polar body formed is usually larger than the second one, and often divides into two after its separation from the ovum. Each of the polar bodies removes maternal chromatin from the ovum to make room for the chromatin of the fertilizing spermatozo["o]n; but their functions are not fully understood. Polar circles (Astron. & Geog.), two circles, each at a distance from a pole of the earth equal to the obliquity of the ecliptic, or about 23[deg] 28', the northern called the arctic circle, and the southern the antarctic circle. Polar clock, a tube, containing a polarizing apparatus, turning on an axis parallel to that of the earth, and indicating the hour of the day on an hour circle, by being turned toward the plane of maximum polarization of the light of the sky, which is always 90[deg] from the sun. Polar co["o]rdinates. See under 3d Co["o]rdinate. Polar dial, a dial whose plane is parallel to a great circle passing through the poles of the earth. --Math. Dict. Polar distance, the angular distance of any point on a sphere from one of its poles, particularly of a heavenly body from the north pole of the heavens. Polar equation of a line or surface, an equation which expresses the relation between the polar co["o]rdinates of every point of the line or surface. Polar forces (Physics), forces that are developed and act in pairs, with opposite tendencies or properties in the two elements, as magnetism, electricity, etc. Polar hare (Zo["o]l.), a large hare of Arctic America (Lepus arcticus), which turns pure white in winter. It is probably a variety of the common European hare (L. timidus). Polar lights, the aurora borealis or australis. Polar, or Polaric, opposition or contrast (Logic), an opposition or contrast made by the existence of two opposite conceptions which are the extremes in a species, as white and black in colors; hence, as great an opposition or contrast as possible. Polar projection. See under Projection. Polar spherical triangle (Spherics), a spherical triangle whose three angular points are poles of the sides of a given triangle. See 4th Pole, 2. Polar whale (Zo["o]l.), the right whale, or bowhead. See Whale.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Priory Pri"o*ry, n.; pl. Priories. [Cf. LL. prioria. See Prior, n.] A religious house presided over by a prior or prioress; -- sometimes an offshoot of, an subordinate to, an abbey, and called also cell, and obedience. See Cell, 2. Note: Of such houses there were two sorts: one where the prior was chosen by the inmates, and governed as independently as an abbot in an abbey; the other where the priory was subordinate to an abbey, and the prior was placed or displaced at the will of the abbot. Alien priory, a small religious house dependent on a large monastery in some other country. Syn: See Cloister.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Cell Cell, n. [OF. celle, fr. L. cella; akin to celare to hide, and E. hell, helm, conceal. Cf. Hall.] 1. A very small and close apartment, as in a prison or in a monastery or convent; the hut of a hermit. The heroic confessor in his cell. --Macaulay. 2. A small religious house attached to a monastery or convent. ``Cells or dependent priories.'' --Milman. 3. Any small cavity, or hollow place. 4. (Arch.) (a) The space between the ribs of a vaulted roof. (b) Same as Cella. 5. (Elec.) A jar of vessel, or a division of a compound vessel, for holding the exciting fluid of a battery. 6. (Biol.) One of the minute elementary structures, of which the greater part of the various tissues and organs of animals and plants are composed. Note: All cells have their origin in the primary cell from which the organism was developed. In the lowest animal and vegetable forms, one single cell constitutes the complete individual, such being called unicelluter orgamisms. A typical cell is composed of a semifluid mass of protoplasm, more or less granular, generally containing in its center a nucleus which in turn frequently contains one or more nucleoli, the whole being surrounded by a thin membrane, the cell wall. In some cells, as in those of blood, in the am[oe]ba, and in embryonic cells (both vegetable and animal), there is no restricting cell wall, while in some of the unicelluliar organisms the nucleus is wholly wanting. See Illust. of Bipolar. Air cell. See Air cell. Cell development (called also cell genesis, cell formation, and cytogenesis), the multiplication, of cells by a process of reproduction under the following common forms; segmentation or fission, gemmation or budding, karyokinesis, and endogenous multiplication. See Segmentation, Gemmation, etc. Cell theory. (Biol.) See Cellular theory, under Cellular.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Cell Cell (s[e^]l), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Celled (s[e^]ld).] To place or inclose in a cell. ``Celled under ground.'' [R.] --Warner.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(cells) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. A cell is the smallest part of an animal or plant that is able to function independently. Every animal or plant is made up of millions of cells. Those cells divide and give many other different types of cells. ...blood cells... Soap destroys the cell walls of bacteria. N-COUNT 2. A cell is a small room in which a prisoner is locked. A cell is also a small room in which a monk or nun lives. N-COUNT 3. You can refer to a small group of people within a larger organization as a cell. N-COUNT: usu n N

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Small room, confined apartment. 2. Solitary abode; squalid, lonely dwelling. 3. Enclosed space, small cavity. 4. Elementary corpuscle, organic unit, simplest organism.

Moby Thesaurus

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