squame
(ˈskweɪm)
Also 5 swame, 7 squamme.
[ad. OF. esquame (escame, also scame, squamme, mod.F. squame) or L. squāma squama.]
† 1. A scale (of iron, or on the skin or eyes).
| c 1386 Chaucer Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 206 What schulde I..besy me to telle yow the names, As orpiment, brent bones, yren squames, That into poudre grounden ben ful smal? c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 189 Furfurea ben a maner of squamis, i. schellis þat comeþ of brennyng þat is in þe skyn. a 1470 Harding Chron. lxiii, In whose bloodde bathed he should haue been, His leprous swames [v.r. squamys] to haue washed of clene. c 1485 Digby Myst. (1882) ii. 298 The swame ys fallyn from my eyes twayne. 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 12 The flouers bind, represse excrescencies, and cleare the eyes of the Squamme. |
| fig. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 127/2 Take thynfirmytees of humanyte and caste away the squames of pryde. |
† 2. App. some species of fish or shell-fish.
Obs.| 1393 Earl Derby's Exp. (Camden) 215 Item pro pikerell et creuez, j duc. lxviij s; item pro squames, xl s; item pro kokkel, xxij s. Ibid. 216 Item pro squamez, xl s. |
3. Zool. = squama 1.
| 1877 Huxley Anat. Inv. Anim. vi. 339 In these genera the scaphocerite, or squame, usually attached to the base of the antenna, is absent. 1888 Rolleston & Jackson Anim. Life 169 The second joint..bears an exopodite in the shape of a scale or ‘squame’. |
4. Med. a. A small flake of dead tissue shed from the surface of the skin in some disorders.
| 1911 M. Morris Dis. Skin (ed. 5) i. 16 The scale, or squame, is a dry and usually laminated exfoliation of the epidermis. 1953 S. Beckett Watt 170 A..constipated man, covered with squames. 1975 Sci. Amer. Nov. 70/3 Finally they fuse into the flakes called squames, which are eventually shed from the surface. |
b. A squamous cell (see
squamous a. 8).
| 1949 in New Gould Med. Dict. 1954 Jrnl. Obstetr. & Gynecol. LXI. 156/2 Smears of patients with erratic or inactive curves consist mainly of intermediate squames and have a high proportion of basal cells. 1973 Gray's Anat. (ed. 35) 27/2 Squamous (pavement) epithelium. This is composed of flattened, interlocking, polygonal cells (squames). |