granule
(ˈgrænjuːl)
[ad. late L. grānul-um (dim. of grānum grain n.1), either directly, or through F. granule.]
A small grain; a small compact particle; a pellet. Employed spec. in Zool. and Bot., also in Astron. and Pharm. (see quots.).
| 1652 Charleton Darkn. Atheism 45 Those Granules of sand, which suffice to make up the vast bulk of the World. 1664 Boyle Exper. & Consid. Colours iii. 41 With an excellent Microscope..the assisted Eye could discern particular Granules, some..Blew, and some..Yellow. 1796 Withering Brit. Plants IV. 112 Fructifications terminating, swelling with seed-bearing granules. 1797 M. Baillie Morb. Anat. (1807) 281 Small granules of stone are sometimes found in the tubular portion of the kidneys. 1804 Abernethy Surg. Obs. 98 They resemble pearl barley, but the granules are generally smaller. 1826 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. IV. 273 Granule, a very minute elevation. 1834 M{supc}Murtrie Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 491 The animal bark which envelopes it is mixed with calcareous granules. 1835 Lindley Introd. Bot. (1848) I. 350 The pollen grains are often called granules. 1840–51 E. Wilson Anat. Vade M. 572 The smallest lobule is apparently composed of granules, which are minute cæcal pouches. 1849 Murchison Siluria x. 241 The granules of the skin. 1867–77 G. F. Chambers Astron. i. i. 36 Granule is the best word to describe the luminous particles on the Sun's surface. 1871 G. H. Napheys Prev. & Cure Dis. iii. iv. 691 Very small pills are called granules. 1876 tr. Wagner's Gen. Pathol. 88 Colorless protoplasm, which..contains shining fat-like granules. 1879 Rutley Study Rocks x. 107 Granules of augite are common. |
b. attrib.
| 1855 tr. Wedl's Pathol. Histol. ii. v. 287 The fine-molecular cell becomes a granule cell. Ibid. 291 Colossal granule-masses. 1881 Syd. Soc. Lex., Cell, granule, a term applied by His to a cell, like an ordinary white blood cell, found in the stroma of the ovary. Also, generally applied to cells in main part consisting of granules. 1882 Thomson, etc. Quain's Elem. Anat. (ed. 9) II. 312 The inner or granule layer. 1886 Syd. Soc. Lex., Granule-layer of cerebellum, the inner nuclear layer of the grey matter of the cortex of the cerebellum. Ibid., Granule masses, the same as giant Cells. |