‖ fasciculus
(fəˈsɪkjʊləs)
Pl. fasciculi.
[L. fasciculus, dim. of fascis: see fasces.]
1. = fascicle 1; chiefly in scientific use.
| 1816 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. (1843) I. 344 These pale-blue fasciculi Mr. Blackwell found to proceed from two additional spinners. 1823 Scoresby Jrnl. 77 Every spine consisted of a fasciculus of needles. 1836–7 Sir W. Hamilton Metaph. xxxiv. (1859) II. 286 Our cognitions comprehend different fasciculi of notions. 1865 Daily Tel. 28 Oct. 4/6 To see Lord Palmerston..fumble with a fasciculus of papers. 1874 tr. Lommel's Light 20 A small conical fasciculus [of rays of light] traverses the aperture. |
b. Bot. = fascicle 1 b.
| 1857 Henfrey Bot. §135 The fasciculus is a cymose collection of nearly sessile flowers. 1889 Wagstaffe Mayne's Med. Voc., Fasciculus, a handful, as of flowers, leaves, roots. |
c. Anat. ‘A bundle of fibres, chiefly applied to nerve structures’ (Wagstaffe).
| 1713 Cheselden Anat. Introd. (1726) 3 Nerves are Fasciculi of cylindrical fibres. 1797 M. Baillie Morb. Anat. (1807) 21 The fasciculi of the muscular fibres. 1881 Mivart Cat 125 Each fasciculus being furnished by a membranous envelope. |
2. = fascicle 2.
| 1844 Lingard Anglo-Sax. Ch. (1858) I. vii. 281 He collected entire psalms..in eight separate fasciculi. 1872 Ellacombe Ch. Bells Devon vii. 161 An elegant folio fasciculus descriptive of the bell and shrine. 1880 Athenæum 29 May 699 We have received the first fasciculus of a new monthly periodical in Hebrew. |