eosinophil, a. and n. Med.
(iːəʊˈsɪnəfɪl)
Also -phile.
[G. eosinophil (P. Ehrlich 1878–9, in Farbenanalyt. Untersuch. z. Histol. d. Blutes (1891) 7), f. eosin + -o + -phil, -phile.]
A. adj. Having an affinity for eosin; staining readily with eosin. B. n. A cell readily stained by eosin. Hence eosinoˈphilic, eosiˈnophilous adjs. = A above; also, pertaining to eosinoˈphilia, a condition of the blood marked by the formation and accumulation of an excess of eosinophil cells.
| 1886 H. M. Biggs tr. Hueppe's Meth. Bacteriol. Invest. ii. 68 The elements of the blood..are divided, according to Ehrlich, into—1. Lymphoid elements... 2. Myeloid cells (eosinophile). 3. Undetermined (spleen and..marrow). Ibid. 69 The a or eosinophile granule..can be stained in all the acid aniline-dyes. 1892 Gould Pocket Med. Dict. 105 Eosinophilous. 1899 J. R. Green Soluble Ferments xxii. 382 An eosinophilous substance diffused out of the nucleus into the cytoplasmic zone. 1900 Dorland Med. Dict. 234/2 Eosinophil, eosinophilic, eosinophilous. 1900 W. Myers tr. Ehrlich & Lazarus' Histol. Blood 149 By eosinophilia we understand an increase only of the polynuclear eosinophil cells in the blood. Confusion of this form of leucocytosis with leukæmia is quite impossible. 1905 Medical Annual 140 Of 158 non-infected persons 91.1 per cent had under 5 per cent of eosinophiles. Ibid., The eosinophilia may persist some time after the disappearance of ova. 1907 J. G. Adami Inflammation ii. xi. 82 During the height of the infection the eosinophils were found collected in the blood-vessels, actively migrating into the peritoneal cavity. 1907 Practitioner Sept. 455 The Eosinophil Cells. 1910 H. W. Armit tr. Ehrlich & Lazarus' Anæmia iii. 167 The Post-infective Form of Eosinophilia... There may even be a distinct eosinophilic leucocytosis. 1912 Adami & McCrae Text-bk. Path. 99 All verminous parasites set up eosinophilia, an increase in the number of eosinophile leukocytes in the circulating blood. Ibid. 128 The leukocytes that take part [in inflammation] are the polynuclear..cells, the lymphocytes, and the eosinophiles. 1949 H. W. Florey et al. Antibiotics II. xlv. 409 Eosinophilia developed in 14 out of 16 patients at some time during 120 days of treatment with 3 g. daily of highly purified streptomycin. In 7 patients the eosinophil cells amounted to 10 per cent. or more of the white blood cells. 1958 Immunology I. ii. 116 A homogeneous eosinophilic cytoplasm interspersed with areas of necrosis. |