red cell
A blood cell containing hæmoglobin; an erythrocyte; = red blood cell, red corpuscle, both s.v. red a. 19 a.
| 1885 Delafield & Prudden Handbk. Path. Anat. & Histol. (ed. 2) ii. 50 In the extravasation of blood by diapedesis, the white blood-cells may pass through the walls of the vessels..; the red cells, on the other hand,..are..carried passively through the walls by minute amounts of fluid. 1896 Boston Med. & Surg. Jrnl. CXXXV. 131/2 Nucleated red cells have usually been classified as microblasts, normoblasts, megoblasts..and those with dividing nuclei. 1936 Lancet 11 July 88/2 A..study of the permeability of red cells. 1968 Passmore & Robson Compan. Med. Stud. I. xxvi. 2/1 The red cells are by far the most numerous of the blood cells; for every white cell there are about 500 red cells and about 30 platelets. |
b. attrib.
| 1917 C. Price-Jones Blood Pictures i. 11 Assuming the average red-cell count of a woman to be 4,450,000 per c.mm. 1941 Science 24 Jan. 87/1 (heading) Red cell volume circulating and total as determined by radio iron. 1947 Radiology XLIX. 303/2 After acutely toxic doses of such agents as Sr89 and Pu239, the minimum red cell count occurs in survivors at a period later than the time of death of non⁓survivors. 1968 Passmore & Robson Compan. Med. Stud. I. xxvi. 5/1 Red cell precursors normally account for one third to one tenth of the bone marrow cells. 1976 Med. Clin. N. Amer. LX. 945 Pure red cell aplasia is a disorder in which patients cease making new red cells. 1976 I. Chanarin et al. Blood & its Dis. ii. 11 The normal..red cell count at sea level is..106/µl 5·0 {pm} 0·6 [for men]. |