micro-

micro-
  (ˈmaɪkrəʊ, (esp. in Med.) ˈmɪkrəʊ)
  before a vowel micr-, repr. Gr. µῑκρο-, comb. form of µῑκρός small, used chiefly in scientific terms.
  1. a. Prefixed to a n. to indicate that the entity denoted by it is of relatively small size or extent, as microabscess, micro-aneurysm, micro-bacillus, micro-bacterium, micro-biota, micro-chromosome, micro-conidium, micro-constituent, micro-crater, micro-earthquake, micro-environment (hence micro-environmental adj.), micro-event, micro-explosion (hence micro-explosive adj.), micro-ferment, micro-fossil, micro-fracture (so micro-fracturing vbl. n.), micro-fungus, micro-gamete, micro-gonidium, rarely in anglicized form micro-gonid (hence micro-gonidial adj.), micro-graver, micro-instability, micro-lens, micro-metazoan, micro-metazoon, micro-parasite (hence micro-parasitic adj.), micro-particle, micro-phenocryst, micro-plankton (hence micro-planktonic adj.), micro-population, micro-pore (hence micro-porous adj., micro-porosity), micro-powder, micro-quantity, micro-sporophyll (hence micro-phyllary adj.), micro-state [state n. 30], micro-system, micro-tektite, micro-vegetation, micro-zone; micro-zoogonidium. ˈmicroatoll, a circular growth of coral a few metres in diameter and with a central depression, such as is found in intertidal areas in warm seas and on the flats inside a coral reef. ˈmicrobeam, a very narrow beam of radiation. ˈmicroblade Archæol., a flake chipped from a prepared flint core; ˈmicroblast Biol. = microcyte. ˈmicrobody Cytology, one of the round or egg-shaped microscopic particles occurring in cytoplasm which are surrounded by a membrane and contain oxidases. ˈmicrocapsule, a minute capsule used to contain, and render temporarily inactive, drugs, dyes, etc. ˈmicrocirculation Physiol., circulation of the blood in the smallest blood vessels. ˈmicrocolony Biol., a group of animals or plants, esp. bacteria, found in a microhabitat; a very small group of cells in culture. ˈmicrocontinent Geol., an oceanic, often submarine, plateau that is thought to be an isolated fragment of continental material; so ˌmicrocontiˈnental a. ˈmicrocrack, a microscopic crack; hence ˈmicrocracked ppl. a., ˈmicrocracking vbl. n. ˈmicroculture Biol., (a) culture (of tissue, micro-organisms, etc.) on a small scale. ˈmicroeˌlectrode, an electrode with a very fine tip, such as one suitable for investigating the electrical properties of individual cells. microˈfibril Biol., a small fibril in living tissue that is visible only under the electron microscope, esp. one of a group that together make up a fibril (such as a cellulose fibril in the wall of a plant cell); hence microˈfibrillar a. microfiˈlaria Zool., the minute larval form of a filaria. microgaˈmetocyte Biol., a cell containing microgametes. ˌmicroˈhabitat Ecol., a habitat which is of small or limited extent and which differs in character from some surrounding more extensive habitat. ˈmicrologic, micro-electronic logic (logic n. 4); freq. attrib. ˈmicromodule Electronics, a miniaturized module, consisting of a stack of interconnected micro-elements. micromuˈtation Biol., (an instance of) mutation that has a superficially small or trivial effect on the phenotype. ˈmicro-operation Computers, a simple operation carried out in response to a microinstruction (see also sense 2 a). ˈmicro-order Computers, a micro-instruction produced by a microprogram. ˈmicroplate Geol., a relatively small lithospheric plate. ˈmicro-process, a process that occurs on a minute scale. microˈprocessor Computers, a processor small enough to be accommodated on a single chip, or just a few chips, and capable of serving as the central processing unit of a computer of comparable size. ˈmicropulˌsation, a small oscillation in the strength of the earth's magnetic field. † microray = microwave n. (obs.); ˈmicror(h)abd Zool., a name given by Sollas to certain minute flesh-spicules in the form of a ‘rhabdus’ found in some sponges. ˈmicrosclere Zool., a minute or flesh spicule of a sponge, which supports only a single cell; hence microˈsclerous a., having the character of a microsclere (Cent. Dict. 1890). microˈseptum Zool., a small imperfect or sterile septum or mesentery of an actinozoan (Ibid.). ˈmicrosphere, ‖ microspˈhæra Biol., (a) epithet applied by Cohn to the micrococci found in vaccine lymph and in small-pox pustules; (b) the small initial chamber of a foraminifer in which there are a number of small nuclei; (c) any minute spherical object; spec. one of those obtained by the cooling of a solution of proteinoid; hence microspheric a. ˈmicrostome [Gr. στόµα mouth] Bot., a small mouth or orifice, as that belonging to the capsule of certain mosses (Cent. Dict.). ˌmicrostratifiˈcation, a small-scale horizontal stratification of the water of a pond or lake. ˈmicroswitch, a switch which can be operated rapidly by a small movement. microˈtrichium Ent. [Gr. θρίξ, τριχ- hair], usu. in pl. microˈtrichia, minute hair-like structures found on the wings of certain insects, esp. those of the order Diptera. microˈtubule Biol., any of the small, relatively rigid tubules, typically about 25 nanometres in diameter, that are present in the cytoplasm of many plant and animal cells and are thought to have a structural function and to be involved with cell motility; so microˈtubular a. microtylote Zool., a small tylote. microˈvillus Biol. (pl. -ˈvilli), one of a number of minute projections from the surface of some cells; any process similar to a villus but smaller. ˈmicrowire, very fine glass-coated wire. ˈmicroworld, a realm or world (world n. 13) very restricted in its dimensions or variety. microxea Zool. [Gr. ὀξέα, var. ὀξύα spear], a minute spear-shaped sponge spicule. microzoogoˈnidium (pl. -ia) Bot., a zoogonidium of minute size. microzoospore Bot., a minute motile spore.

1946 Nature 5 Oct. 487/2 Thrombo-angiitis, phlebitis and lymphangiitis with *micro-abscess formation can be found on study of sections of these structures. 1962 Lancet 1 Dec. 1134 The kidneys showed the changes of acute and chronic pyelonephritis, with microabscesses and gross fibrosis.

1948 Parsons & Duke-Elder Dis. Eye (ed. 11) xvii. 371 These droplets..tend to obscure the lumen of the vessel, forming a small *micro-aneurysm. 1962 H. Heath in A. Pirie Lens Metabolism Rel. Cataract 366 The fact that microaneurisms [sic] develop only in some cases of long-standing diabetes would seem to indicate a derangement in some slow metabolic process.

1933 P. H. Kuenen in Snellius-Expedition V. ii. iii. 64 Conditions unfavourable to coral growth above low tide level certainly favour the formation of the *micro-atolls. 1963 D. W. & E. E. Humphries tr. Termier's Erosion & Sedimentation xiii. 286 Pools are frequently observed on the surface of the reef-flats... These pools contain micro⁓atolls which have overhanging margins, indicating a reaction against choking muds. 1967 Oceanogr. & Marine Biol. V. 488 Sometimes this calcareous worm produces small reefs fringing the piers, or even micro-atolls.

1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 904 The *microbacillus of Unna.

1875 tr. von Ziemssen's Cycl. Med. I. 588 *Micro⁓bacteria (rod-like bacteria); bacterium termo. 1890 Syd. Soc. Lex., Microblast.

1950 Engineering 5 May 498/3 The Cambridge work on *micro⁓beams was most promising. It was nearing the stage when an investigator could look down a microscope, see a particle which he had etched, and direct X-rays on to that one particle, thus obtaining its diffraction pattern and identify it. 1962 Times 17 May 14/4 Investigate the effects of irradiation with a microbeam of ultraviolet light. 1972 Science 3 Nov. 461/2 Sea urchin sperm flagella are irradiated near their base with a laser microbeam.

1968 New Scientist 1 Aug. 223/1 Professor James B. Lackey..has been looking at..esturine [sic] habitats, concentrating on the *microbiota, especially the growth and decline of algae and protozoa. 1974 Nature 8 Feb. 361/2 Only a selection of the diverse Bungle Bungle microbiota [from Western Australia] is presented here.

1969 Britannica Bk. of Year (U.S.) 101 Late in the Upper Paleolithic and during the ensuing Mesolithic, it became the fashion to make smaller and smaller bladelettes. Commonly inserted as ‘side blades’ into lateral grooves in antler and bone projectile points, such ‘*microblades’ lacerated the flesh of wounded game animals and thus promoted free bleeding and rapid death. 1972 Sci. Amer. Jan. 51/1 Working near Telegraph Creek in northwestern British Columbia in 1969 and 1970, Jason W. Smith and his colleagues from the University of Calgary unearthed several hundred delicate obsidian ‘microblades’, flakes seldom more than an inch long or a fifth of an inch wide, along with eight of the ‘cores’ that yield such blades.

1898 Allbutt's Syst. Med. V. 528 These [corpuscles] according to their sizes have been named normoblasts, megaloblasts, and *microblasts.

1954 J. Rhodin Correlation Ultrastruct. Organization & Function in Tubule Cells Mouse Kidney ii. 21 The number, size and shape of the *microbodies varies from cell to cell with a mean of about 10 in each cell. 1973 Plant Physiol. LI. 905/2 Electron micrographs frequently show association of microbodies with the rough endoplasmic reticulum.

1961 New Scientist 20 Apr. 115/3 The National Cash Register Company first developed *microcapsules of a dye in a colourless form, which were spread on paper. 1967 Britannica Bk. of Year (U.S.) 803/2 Microcapsule, a tiny capsule containing a liquid or solid substance (as a chemical or medicine) that is released when the capsule is broken, melted, or dissolved. 1969 New Scientist 3 Apr. 18 Microcapsules—tiny bags made of synthetic membrane containing enzymes or other active materials—show promise as a means of treating kidney failure. 1972 Chem. Processing Apr. 21/2 Wass, Pritchard have developed a dry system for the application of fragrance or flavour microcapsules during the printing process.

1905 E. B. Wilson in Jrnl. Exper. Zool. II. 375 Especially large or small chromosomes may be designated as ‘macrochromosomes’ or ‘*microchromosomes’, irrespective of their behavior. 1958 C. P. Swanson Cytol. & Cytogenetics xiii. 459 Apart from accessory chromosomes, which are generally..smaller than the usual chromosomes, microchromosomes are found throughout the plant and animal kingdom. 1969 Brown & Bertke Textbk. Cytol. 755/1 Microchromosome, very small metaphase chromosome of a karyotype possessing only two sizes of chromosomes, very small ones and quite large ones; the latter are called macrochromosomes.

1959 Angiology X. 241/1 Pressure differences in the vessels of the *microcirculation are small. 1969 Sci. Jrnl. Apr. 20/2 To increase an impaired microcirculation patients are commonly treated with histamine which is a strong vasodilator and rapidly relaxes the walls of capillaries.

1959 New Biol. XXX. 53 The fact that a large number of nests are collected each year may be attributed to birds successfully breeding in the inaccessible parts of the caves. These *micro-colonies form reservoirs from which the caves are restocked annually. 1968 Brit. Med. Bull. XXIV. 246/1 It is often found that cells grown in culture after irradiation show a spread of colony size;..there are often micro-colonies notably smaller than those growing from unirradiated controls. 1968 L. E. Casida in Gray & Parkinson Ecol. Soil Bacteria 100 Many soil bacteria grow as microcolonies within the larger pores of soil aggregates. 1973 R. G. Krueger Introd. Microbiol. iii. 31/2 Micro⁓colonies are formed by some photosynthetic bacteria that produce buds from the ends of filamentous outgrowths of the cell.

1871 Cooke Handbk. Brit. Fungi II. 776 Hypomycetes... *Microconidia or Conidia proper very copious.

1901 Taylor & White U.S. Pat. 668, 269 19 Feb., When treated with higher heats..the steel of the tools show under the microscope a dinstinctly larger grained structure in many cases interspersed with austenite, a *micro-constituent of steel discovered by Osmond. 1930 Times 29 Mar. 17/1 The metallurgy of steel castings, and the discovery of about 25 micro-constituents of steel. 1966 D. G. Brandon Mod. Techniques Metallogr. i. 1 Micro⁓constituents were successfully identified.

1965 Heezen & Tharp in Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A. CCLVIII. 98 We may, of course, in referring to these aseismic ridges as *micro-continents, infer that they are either (1) fragments of former continents, or (2) nuclei of growing continents. 1966 R. W. Fairbridge Encycl. Oceanogr. 373/2 Madagascar is clearly a microcontinent. Ibid. 874/1 In the mid-ocean there have been identified..(3) true mid-ocean plateaus, to which Heezen has applied the genetic connotation ‘microcontinent’. 1970 Nature 13 June 1044/2 We suggest that the East Canaries block is a microcontinent or sialic continental fragment detached from the African margin.

1966 R. W. Fairbridge Encycl. Oceanogr. 964/2 Submarine ridges and rises in other oceans..often have foundations of ‘*microcontinental’ blocks. 1974 Nature 14 Mar. 204/2 This suggests that the Rockall–Faeroe Plateau as a whole may form a single *microcontinental fragment.

1950 Welding Res. Suppl. Sept. 473-s/2 The *microcracks have produced..highly localized strain. 1960 W. D. Biggs Brittle Fracture of Steel v. 154 Ingot irons and spectrographically pure irons do contain quantities of iron oxide in the form of inclusions in which micro-cracks may be nucleated. 1972 Science 2 June 1015/1 This can be attributed to the absence of water in the lunar rocks combined with the effects of porosity and microcracks.

1970 Times 22 May 27 At low thicknesses the deposits of chrome thrown by the new method are *microporous, while thicker coatings are *microcracked.

1956 Welding Res. Suppl. Feb. 78-s/3 The pearlite area..showed no evidence of *microcracking. 1972 Sci. Amer. Nov. 92/2 Concrete is an inhomogeneous mixture of materials and is subject to local microcracking.

1965 Jrnl. Appl. Physics XXXVI. 3701/1 From the crater fields observed at low power density irradiation it can be concluded that the formation of *microcraters is an early stage in the development of laser-induced radiation damage of metal surfaces. 1970 Daily Tel. 7 Jan. 3 (caption) A grain of lunar soil highly magnified to reveal a microcrater.

1892 Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B. CLXXXIII. 132 (caption) Glass *micro-culture chamber in use with gas generators. 1973 Nature 5 Oct. 263/2 We analysed microcultures containing small numbers of cells (104 to 105) and the antibody response could be followed for up to 40 d.

1967 N.Y. Times 23 May 29 Before a volcano erupts it generates *micro-earthquakes, which we are able to detect on our seismographs. 1974 Nature 24 May 308/1 [They] used sonobuoys in an attempt..to see if, notwithstanding the lack of large earthquakes, they could detect microearthquake (magnitude less than 4·0) or earthquake swarm activity.

1917 Amer. Jrnl. Physiol. XLIV. 521 The electrodes were of copper or platinum, the muscle resting on an indifferent plate and subject above to the light contact of an active needle, microscopically sharpened—the *micro-electrode. 1946 Nature 20 July 97/2 As soon as the results of Granit's micro-electrode experiments on the retinæ of animals were published, it was clear that a method was wanted for obtaining similar information with regard to the colour vision of man. 1955 C. R. N. Strouts et al. Analytical Chem. II. xviii. 576 A microelectrode usually consists of a platinum wire about 0·5 mm. in diameter, sealed into the side of a glass tube. 1966 T. Pynchon Crying of Lot 49 iii. 55 Something tidal began to reach feelers in past eyes and eardrums, perhaps to arouse fractions of brain current your most gossamer microelectrode is yet too gross for finding.

1954 New Biol. XVII. 7 Dr. Edney's account of the water relations of woodlice is a study in comparative physiology, within a single order, linked closely to the differences in environments—and indeed *micro-environments—of the species concerned. 1962 F. I. Ordway et al. Basic Astronautics xiii. 515 The apparent simplicity of the concept of a microenvironment within the spaceship leaves one serious gap. 1973 Nature 2 Mar. 20/2 Commitment may not occur until stem cells enter the microenvironment of the thymus or bursa (or bursa equivalent).

1971 World Archaeol. III. 128 A village..in a different *micro-environmental zone. 1974 Nature 27 Sept. 317/2 Oscillations of microenvironmental pO2 in the medium overlaying attached cultures of 107 cells per 50 mm Petri plate were measured amperometrically with calibrated Pt/Ir micro-oxygen cathodes polarised between 0·6 and 0·8 V.

1949 A. Pap Elem. Analytic Philos. vii. 137 The belief in *micro-events involving micro-objects which are the hidden causes of observable events. 1957 C. Day Lewis Poet's Way of Knowledge 14 During the last half-century, physical scientists have moved towards the study of the micro-event. 1959 K. R. Popper Logic Sci. Discovery viii. 196 Hypothetical and not directly observable ‘micro events’.

1968 Sci. Jrnl. Nov. 44/2 The rate of current growth must be increased and the plasma contained in a special non-cylindrical shape—the so-called plasma focus. However, the process itself will be so brief as to resemble a strong explosion. If the dimensions of the system are not too large this can be manifested as a ‘*micro-explosion’ which will be a good source of both fast neutrons and hard x-rays. 1971 Jrnl. Physics D IV. 1941 Joule heating immediately underneath an operating site raises the local temperature of the metal above its boiling point... The resulting micro-explosion..gives rise to a crater with a surrounding lip of electrode debris. 1974 Sci. Amer. June 24/1 Calculations were undertaken..to try to find out what would happen when tiny deuterium-tritium pellets were imploded to thermonuclear conditions by intense beams of laser light. It was also proposed that the fusion microexplosions could be applied to the generation of power.

1971 Jrnl. Physics D IV. 1945 The *micro-explosive disruption of the layer following Joule heating of the underlying metal causes collapse of the high trapped-ion field and the quenching of local emission.

1883 H. I. Slack in Knowledge 1 June 323/1 Former articles upon *micro-ferments afford some information concerning..the bacillus.

1938 Nature 19 Nov. 902/1 It may be observed..that the micelles themselves are aggregated into ‘*micro⁓fibrils’, separated by spaces rather larger than the usual intermicellar spaces. 1962 J. T. Marsh Self-Smoothing Fabrics xx. 351 It is also probable that with cotton, there is some binding or entanglement of the microfibrils and even of the growth layers. 1970 T. S. & C. R. Leeson Histol. (ed. 2) ii. 37/1 In many cells cytoplasmic micro⁓fibrils are present, probably consisting of elongated protein molecules. 1971 Sci. Amer. June 44/3 Using the electron microscope to inspect the formation of ligament and tendon during the very first stages, we found no sign of the amorphous component in the embryonic elastic fibers. At this time the fibers appeared to consist only of the 110-angstrom microfibrils.

1956 Nature 18 Feb. 319/1 Sikorski and Woods pointed out the difficulty of reconciling the macrofibrillar type of structure observed in the follicle of a wool fibre with the occurrence of extended *microfibrillar sheets in disintegrated fibres. 1972 Canad. Jrnl. Bot. L. 479 The microfibrillar material transports sucrose in pulses at about 400 cm h-1.

1878 Lancet 23 Mar. 440/2 *Micro-filariae in chylous urine. 1946 Nature 21 Dec. 913/1 The disease [sc. equine dermal filariasis] is associated with the presence of microfilariæ in the skin lesions. 1966 New Scientist 1 Sept. 482/3 Adult worms spawn progeny called microfilariae. They are ingested by, and develop in, several varieties of mosquito.

1924 Bull. Amer. Assoc. Petroleum Geologists VIII. 539 (heading) The value of *micro-fossils in petroleum exploration. 1961 J. Challinor Dict. Geol. 127/2 There is no definite size limit for the category of microfossil, but one recent worker.. has taken 2 mm. 1969 Times 11 Jan. 15/8 It is..possible that the rocks may have been contaminated by chemical fossils and microfossils after they were laid down.

1939 Amer. Mineralogist XXIV. 73 The streaks, patches, and veinlets of coarsely crystalline kaolinite and halloysite are sedimentary in origin and appear to be related to recrystallization along the *micro-fractures in the clay. 1973 Jrnl. Biomech. VI. 5/2 Preliminary results from our study of human materials have demonstrated evidence of healing or healed microfractures in the subchondral bone taken at autopsy from patients with early signs of degenerative joint disease.

1969 Nature 27 Sept. 1306/1 All the rock samples are characterized by small surface pits lined with glass, areas of spattered glass and whitish markings which are small areas of *microfracturing.

1874 Hardwicke's Sci.-Gossip 256 That rare and interesting *Micro-fungus Xenodochus carbonarius. 1920 Microfungus [see encroach n.]. 1971 N. E. Hickin Wood Preservation 66 Micro-fungi... An imprecise term of no taxonomic significance, usually used to include those fungi whose classification is in doubt as no sexual process has been observed, the fungi imperfecti, and including also the smaller Ascomycetes with small sporophores.

1891 Hartog in Nature 17 Sept. 484 *Microgamete.

1905 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 25 Feb. 442 After entering the stomach of the gnat, the *microgametocytes..produce microgametes.

1857 Berkeley Cryptog. Bot. §123, The *micro-gonidia, which are supposed to be true antheridia, have..been described.

1884 Hyatt in Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. XXIII. 67 Thesezoons..assume characteristics of true males or *microgonids.

1890 Century Dict., *Microgonidial.

1926 Guide Antiquities Stone Age Dept. Brit. & Mediaeval Antiquities Brit. Mus. (ed. 3) 90 The early sites with the angle-graver or true graver, and the later with the *micro⁓graver as the typical implement. 1939 V. G. Childe Dawn European Civilization (ed. 3) i. 6 Pigmy flints or microliths, ingeniously worked into regular geometrical shapes..or into microgravers.

1933 Ecol. Monogr. III. 169 Niche—the *microhabitat or ultimate division of the habitat including recognition of its modifying factors. 1970 Watsonia VIII. 93 Like several other British ferns, it shows a partiality for railway platforms, which often supply a very special moist and calcareous microhabitat. 1971 Sci. Amer. Sept. 105/3 All habitats—from the expanses of sea ice and open water to the microhabitats of tidal flats, leeward waters and protected valleys—are utilized [by Eskimos].

1962 W. B. Thompson Introd. Plasma Physics viii. 235 Since the wavelength is so small, this instability is almost independent of the macroscopic geometry, and represents one of the ‘*micro-instabilities’. 1971 Science Year 1972 222 Fusion researchers have been trying to find magnetic-bottle configurations that will be able to reduce the microinstabilities to acceptable proportions.

1964 S. Duke-Elder Parsons' Dis. Eye (ed. 14) vii. 82 *Micro-lenses resting on the cornea are easier to fit and to wear. 1971 Time 19 July 48 Walon Green..used microlenses and extreme slow motion to get awesome footage of mayflies living out their brief lives.

1960 Electronics 25 Nov. 107/1 (heading) *Micrologic computer. 1965 New Scientist 25 Mar. 769/1 Marconi..has a pilot ‘micro-logic’ circuit manufacturing plant at its laboratories. 1971 J. H. Smith Digital Logic i. 4 The Integrated Circuit. This is often referred to as micro logic. 1972 Sci. Amer. Sept. 2/1 (Advt.), This revolutionary small computer lets your people use the languages which best express the problems you need to solve. Its variable micrologic processor operates efficiently with each language by instantly restructuring itself as it shifts from one program or program segment to the next.

1964 Oceanogr. & Marine Biol. II. 382 This remarkable interstitial fauna..consisting of protozoans and *micrometazoans..has been eagerly studied since the twenties by Kiel zoologists.

1969 New Scientist 3 Apr. 34/2 The dozen or so *micrometazoa with which they are working.

1959 Times 19 Mar. 10/5 New miniature military radios, radar controls and other products of a revolutionary programme of *micro-module electronics. 1965 Listener 1 July 6/1 I.B.M. already has 80 per cent. of the world computer market. With its micro-modules it looks like keeping it.

1940 R. Goldschmidt Material Basis of Evolution 324 Among these evolutionary steps there are many of a type which preclude an evolution by slow accumulation of *micro⁓mutations. 1972 Science 12 May 623/3 In the 1930's population geneticists recognized micromutation as the raw material of evolutionary change.

1953 *Micro-operation [see microprogram]. 1970 O. Dopping Computers & Data Processing xii. 197 A program step, i.e. the execution of an instruction in a computer, consists of a number of micro program steps, or micro operations.

1953 *Micro-order [see microprogram]. 1972 D. Lewin Theory & Design Digital Computers iv. 71 The main function of the control unit is to decode the order digits of an instruction word, thereby generating the necessary sequence of control waveforms (micro-orders) to allow the instruction to be executed.

1884 Science 1 Feb. 130/1 The number of substances which are less injurious to man than to *micro-parasites is very small.

1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 196 Febrile *micro-parasitic type.

1969 Encycl. Sci. Suppl. (Grolier) 78 The search continues for facts about the similarities and differences between ‘organized elements’, microfossils, and *microparticles formed from amino acid polymers.

1926 G. W. Tyrrell Princ. Petrol. v. 86 The terms microporphyritic and *microphenocrysts may be used when the texture can only be made out with the use of a microscope. 1946 Jrnl. Geol. LIV. 27/2 Microphenocrysts of augite are set in a microcrystalline to cryptocrystalline and hyaline groundmass. 1973 Nature 9 Feb. 374/1 It occurs as inclusions in both the other minerals, and forms skeletal microphenocrysts about 0·05 mm across.

1903 Jrnl. R. Microsc. Soc. 638 Spinelli publishes a first contribution to the marine flora of Sicily... The *micro⁓plankton of the Sicilian coast has not been included. 1969 Bennison & Wright Geol. Hist. Brit. Isles xiv. 319 Marine microplankton has also been found [in the Wealden area].

1971 Nature 30 Apr. 562/1 Cita and Blow compared the *microplanktonic succession in these stratotypes with that of the tropical zonation scheme.

1972 Ibid. 4 Feb. 253/2 From the point of view of plate tectonics the Mediterranean is a complicated part of the world, being a region of numerous small interacting plates (*microplates) rather than a part of one large one.

1967 Oceanogr. & Marine Biol. V. 543 There is a highly detailed zoning of ecological conditions and *micro-populations in the supra- and the mediolittoral zone.

1884 Moseley in Rep. Brit. Assoc. (1885) 781 A series of smaller pores (‘*micro⁓pores’). 1885 ― in Q. Jrnl. Microsc. Sci. XXV. 40, I shall call them megalopores and micropores. 1956 Nature 17 Mar. 502/1 The same type of micro-pore structure as occurs in the coking coals. 1967 M. Chandler Ceramics in Mod. World iv. 133 Translucent alumina ceramics that contain no micropores.

1939 Chem. Abstr. XXXIII. 4099 With increasing percentages this reduction continues until with 5% of Cu2O there is no change in vol. However, this is in part only apparent, since Cu2O causes *microporosity. 1961 A. Taylor X-ray Metallogr. iii. 32 For the more subtle flaws and fine detail, such as hairline cracks or microporosity, the much more sensitive photographic method must be employed. 1963 J. Osborne Dental Mech. (ed. 5) xiv. 325 A shrinkage develops causing a microporosity throughout the entire casting.

1890 Syd. Soc. Lex., *Microporous. 1955 Sci. News Let. 29 Jan. 67/1 Oxygen..diffuses through a micro⁓porous filter disk made of porcelain and having 800,000,000 holes to the square inch. 1970 Times 22 May 27 At low thicknesses the deposits of chrome thrown by the new method are microporous.

1953 Electronic Engin. XXV. 233/1 *Micropowder magnets can be made—after the powder has been produced—in a great variety of shapes. 1965 New Scientist 6 May 368/1 This metal could be either in very finely divided state (micropowder) or else as a sintered iron oxide compound.

1936 Mind XLV. 275 Jordan's attempt to account for it in terms of an intensification of acausal *micro-processes is not supported by the facts. 1962 Times 13 Apr. 19/7 A higher resolution..is still more attractive on account of the prospects it affords of exploring those structural details and micro-processes upon which the functioning of living matter depends.

1970 IEEE Trans. Computers XIX. 710 LX-1 is an integrated circuit prototype of a *microprocessor which is being used as a design vehicle to study the problems associated with the design and implementation of a similar computer constructed with large-scale integrated circuits. 1974 Computer July 22/2 There are at least four major classifications of systems that can be designed using microprocessors: calculators, controllers, data processors, and general-purpose computers. Controllers and calculators are the most likely candidates for single-chip CPUs. 1974 Ibid. Aug. 34/1 The present system uses a microprocessor and a small number of other custom LSI devices to control the spark ignition timing and EGR valve position based on a number of input engine variables. 1975 Sci. Amer. May 34/2 In 1971..the Intel Corporation, which had undertaken to develop a calculator chip, chose to design it as a more versatile programmable, single-chip microprocessor.

1949 Proc. Japan Acad. XXV. ix. 24 A remarkable *micropulsation of dH/dt at the sudden commencement [of the magnetic storm] frequently took places [sic] during the summer and equinox, while it is weak during the winter. 1960 Jrnl. Geophysical Res. LXV. 1843/1 Micropulsations belong to the family of disturbances that have been related to the arrival of solar terrestrial particles. 1968 McGraw-Hill Yearbk. Sci. & Technol. 241/1 The instability also generates geomagnetic micropulsations and..very low frequency radio emissions. (Micropulsations are small quasi-sinusoidal oscillations of the Earth's field having periods ranging from about 1/5 sec to several hundred seconds.)

1946 F. Schneider Qualitative Organic Microanalysis vi. 164 The method can be readily adapted to the use of *microquantities by the use of a reflux tube. 1971 Nature 7 May 11/2 The micro⁓quantities of compounds or isotopes which have now become detectable can serve as tracers to distinguish between, say, older and more recent material on the surface.

1887 Sollas in Encycl. Brit. XXII. 423/1 The flesh spicules when present are usually *microrabds or spirasters.

1931 Electrician 3 Apr. 509/2 The great advance made..has opened up the range of wave-lengths between 10 cm. and 1 m. for practical use... These short wave-lengths have been designated ‘*micro-rays’. 1934 Discovery Sept. 242/2 The micro-rays used have the great advantage of freedom from disturbance by other wireless transmissions. 1937 Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XLI. 47 The micro-ray equipments used on the commercial Lympne–St. Inglevert and the experimental Escalles–St. Margaret's [radio] links.

1887 Sollas in Encycl. Brit. XXII. 417/2 It is doubtful whether a distinction between megascleres and *microscleres can be maintained in the calcareous sponges.

1875 tr. von Ziemssen's Cycl. Med. II. 381 In the blood..he has demonstrated the *micro⁓spheres. 1891 Dallinger Carpenter's Microsc. xiv. 727 The ‘microsphere’ is followed by a larger number of chambers. 1960 Science 22 July 204/2 A tendency to yield microspheres having diameters in a bacterial range is illustrated. Ibid., Another property of the microspheres is the tendency to shrink in sodium chloride solution hypertonic to that in which they are produced. 1965 R. S. Young in S. W. Fox Orig. Prebiological Syst. iv. 349 It is difficult to imagine that this phenomenon of microsphere formation, so easily demonstrable in the laboratory, did not occur in nature if there were a suitable accumulation of building blocks. Whether this had anything to do with the origin of the cell is purely speculative at this stage, but it is certainly suggestive. Ibid. 354 The microsphere is a remarkably stable structure. 1974 Nature 10 May 177/1 About 100,000 microspheres 25 µm in diameter labelled with 46Sc were injected into the left ventricle over 30 s.

1894 Lister in Phil. Trans. CLXXXVI. 437 The microspheres in the two *microspheric examples measure 15 × 12·5µ and 13 × 11 µ. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. I. 83 The microspheræ previously referred to as infesting the amœba. 1898 Sedgwick Text-bk. Zool. I. 9 The intervening stages between the zoospore, produced by the megalospheric form, and the microsphere.

1895 Vines Textbk. Bot. i. 432 In..Phanerogams..the *microsporophylls are morphologically simpler.

Ibid. 78 When..the flower includes only microsporophylls, it is called *microsporophyllary.

1962 Economist 20 Jan. 204/1 The *micro-states left behind by France—Niger, Chad, Dahomey, Togo. 1970 Britannica Bk. of Year (U.S.) 463 Other events included..proposals that a special UN membership category be created for ‘microstates’. 1974 Austral. Outlook XXVIII. i. 24 No clear and universally acceptable definition of a microstate has yet emerged.

1937 Science 26 Feb. 224/1 (heading) *Microstratification of the waters of inland lakes in summer. 1956 Nature 17 Mar. 520/1 With a small amount of plankton in such a large body of water [as Lake Tanganyika], it is possible that its distribution is uneven due to currents and microstratifications. 1957 G. E. Hutchinson Treat. Limnol. I. vi. 396 In very many lakes..elaborate microstratification occurred throughout the hypolimnion.

1958 Jrnl. Exper. Analysis of Behaviour I. 173 The S read from loose printed pages; every time he stuttered, E pressed a *microswitch which activated an Esterline-Angus recorder. 1961 New Scientist 13 Apr. 16/1 Carbon dioxide is used for inflation, its flow being controlled..for patients with very slight residual power, by an electrical system using micro⁓switches. 1967 E. Chambers Photolitho-Offset ix. 128 The exposed film enters the processor at the film feeding station, the film activating a microswitch that starts a metering pump.

1940 Ann. Rev. Biochem. IX. 609 Since this is exactly the field served by the widely used Warburg manometric apparatus, and since the sensitivity of the diver method is about 1500 times as great as that apparatus, many possibilities of application to the *microsystem exist. 1969 New Scientist 27 Feb. 452 One early form of life could have been a thermodynamically open, self-assembled, proteinaceous microsystem, capable of propagating its own kind through the use of preformed poly⁓amino acids.

1967 Nature 22 Apr. 374/1 It is concluded that the glassy objects [in deep-sea sediments] discussed in this report are *microtektites, and that they constitute a portion of the Australasian strewn field which extends from Thailand to Tasmania. 1973 Ibid. 16 Feb. 431/2 Microtektites (diameters

1934 C. H. Curran Families & Genera N. Amer. Diptera 488 *Microtrichia—The smaller abundant hairs of the wing. When these are present the wing is said to be villous. 1957 Richards & Davies Imms's Gen. Textbk. Entomol. (ed. 9) i. 13 Microtrichia..are minute hair-like structures, found, for example, on the wings of the Mecoptera and certain Diptera. They resemble very small covering hairs. 1963 D. B. Slautterbach in Jrnl. Cell Biol. XVIII. 384/2 It may be generally recognized that cells possess a ‘*microtubular system’. 1971 Sci. Amer. Aug. 52/3 At the base of every eukaryotic flagellum and cilium is a distinct microtubular structure: the basal body.

1963 D. B. Slautterbach in Jrnl. Cell Biol. XVIII. 367 Small cytoplasmic tubules are present in the interstitial cells and cnidoblasts of hydra. They are referred to here as ‘*microtubules’. 1974 McGraw-Hill Yearbk. Sci. & Technol. 124/2 Microtubules are hollow cylinders about 250 A..in diameter which are present in a wide variety of cellular structures, including the mitotic spindle, cilia and flagella, and neural axons... They probably provide an internal ‘cytoskeleton’ that produces or maintains asymmetric cell structure, and they appear to be involved in the production of certain types of cell motility.

1887 Sollas in Encycl. Brit. XXII. 417 (Fig. 17), Microscleres..r, *microtylote.

1956 Nature 4 Feb. 221/2 It seems quite plausible..that the stream of nutrient salts and metabolites excreted by the cuticle serves as the nutrient medium of the epiphyllic *micro-vegetation. 1958 Blumea IX. 206 Barnacles were collected in order to get an impression of the algal microvegetation..growing on them.

1953 Borysko & Bang in Bull. Johns Hopkins Hosp. XCII. 259 The cell surface in contact with the allantoic fluid was consistently characterized by the presence of variable numbers of small projections..which we have named ‘*microvilli’ to distinguish them from other types of surface projections (cilia, pseudopods, brush borders, blebs, etc.). These microvilli appeared as club-shaped projections extending into the allantoic sac. They were approximately 0·1 micron in width, ranging from 0·1 to 1·0 micron in length. 1968 New Scientist 28 Nov. 513/1 The skin of many tapeworms possesses a number of very small, finger-like projections. They are known as microvilli, from their resemblance to the larger, but similar, projections called villi found in the small intestine of most types of vertebrate. 1969 Nature 11 Oct. 116/2 (caption) This normal baby hamster kidney (BHK) cell is magnified about 3,300 times. The tendril-like processes are microvilli which appear at particular phases of the cell cycle, noticeably when the cell rounds up before division.

1963 Times 21 May 20/2 World scientists are taking their turn in a growing queue for Britain's newest export—glass-sheathed copper *microwire 50 times thinner than a human hair. 1970 New Scientist 30 Apr. 228/3, 100 grammes of micro⁓wire, about 100 km long, would cost {pstlg}1000.

1955 O. Klein in W. Pauli Niels Bohr 117 Einstein..may have felt that on the side of the quantum physicists the importance of the general relativity claim in the search for the laws of the *microworld was usually underestimated. 1967 New Scientist 18 May 383/2 The pavilion [at London Zoo] is an assemblage of micro-worlds in which the jumpers can jump, the climbers climb, the burrowers burrow and the nocturnal sleepers sleep. 1973 C. Bonington Next Horizon ii. 46 In the micro-world of an expedition the pettiest details, like an unwashed pan or an irritating mannerism, are blown up out of all proportion.

1887 Sollas in Encycl. Brit. XXII. 417 (Fig. 17), Microscleres..n, oxyaster;..q, the same, with two actines (a centrotylote *microxea).

1957 G. E. Hutchinson Treat. Limnol. I. ix. 609 By covering lake mud in the laboratory with oxygenated water, he was able to show that a *microzone of oxygen-poor water was rapidly produced above the mud. 1964 Oceanogr. & Marine Biol. II. 137 Cores often exhibit a well marked horizontal stratification into the microzones of Perfiljew.

1882 Vines tr. Sachs' Bot. 257 Other of the cells..give birth to 16 or 32, *micro⁓zoogonidia.

1875 Q. Jrnl. Microsc. Sci. XV. 396 *Micro⁓zoospores (which conjugate, but otherwise in most cases appear incapable of germination).

  b. Other terms in which micro- indicates reduced size or scale, but not of what is denoted by a following n., as micro-distribution; ˈmicrobreccia Geol. (see quot. 1972); ˈmicrocamera, a camera used in photomicrography; ˌmicrocosmoˈpolitan, one who regards himself as a citizen of every part of a particular society; a citizen of a defined and limited world; ˈmicro-evoˌlution, evolutionary change within a species or smaller group of plants or animals, taking a relatively short time; hence ˌmicro-evoˈlutionary a.; ˈmicroglossary, a glossary or dictionary of terms in a particular subject; microplaˈsticity, plastic flow which occurs in small areas of a material at stresses below the elastic limit of the bulk material; so microˈplastic a.; ˈmicrorelief Physical Geogr., small-scale relief (relief³ 3 b); ˌmicro-stimuˈlation Physiol., stimulation applied to a very small area; ˈmicrotheory, a theory about one particular aspect or part of some subject or phenomenon.

1948 Jrnl. Geol. LVI. 149 (in facing Table 3), Siltstone (gritty). a. siltstone proper. b. Micro-conglomerate or micro-breccia. 1951 E. B. Knopf tr. B. Sander's Contrib. Study of Depositional Fabric 28 The fragments in this deformation breccia are calcitized crinkled dolomite and various sedimentary microbreccias. Ibid. 29 Some fragments in the microbreccia are themselves fragments of breccia. 1963 D. W. & E. E. Humphries tr. Termier's Erosion & Sedimentation xiii. 294 The true reefs contain several facies:..breccias and microbreccias formed of fragments of calcareous organisms; oyster limestones; [etc.]. 1972 Gloss. Geol. (Amer. Geol. Inst.) 449/2 Microbreccia, (a) A poorly sorted sandstone containing relatively large and sharply angular particles of sand set in a very fine silty or clayey matrix; e.g. a graywacke. It is somewhat less micaceous than a siltstone. (b) A breccia within fragments of a coarser breccia (Sander, 1951, p. 28). 1973 Nature 23 Mar. 252/2 A feldspathic microbreccia from the Descartes region of the lunar highlands contains an unusual assemblage of pyroxene fragments.

1928 Daily Express 21 June 12 Modern science has at its disposal, ‘doctors, chemists, biologists, ultra-violet lamps, micro-cameras, and spectroscopes’. 1958 Newnes Compl. Amat. Photogr. xxv. 219 Apart from the micro-camera, a plate camera is perhaps the next best. 1961 A. Taylor X-ray Metallogr. vi. 163 Equally good resolution may be obtained with quite small cameras provided the focus of the X-ray tube is restricted and the geometry of the camera and the specimen is suitably modified, as, for example, in certain microcameras.

1938 S. Beckett Murphy xi. 240 It was as though the microcosmopolitans had locked him out. 1966 Punch 12 Jan. 50/1 Liberal Jewish New Yorkers..are cosmopolitans, but New York is their cosmos. They are really microcosmopolitans.

1964 Oceanogr. & Marine Biol. II. 111 The study of..micro-distribution with reference to mixing processes in the sea. 1971 Nature 25 June 524/2 So far it has not been possible to study the micro-distribution of lead in materials, except by using electron microprobes or rather crude microchemical techniques which are only really valid if the lead concentration is high.

1940 R. Goldschmidt Material Basis of Evolution 199 Microevolution by means of micromutation leads only to diversification within the species. 1963 Davis & Heywood Princ. Angiosperm Taxon. ii. 72 They [sc. biosystematists] have gone a long way in elucidating the processes of evolution at and below the species level (micro-evolution). Ibid. xii. 405 The significance of ecological modifications in a micro-evolutionary context has probably been underestimated. 1974 T. Heyerdahl Fatu-Hiva ii. 86, I was on constant look-out for animals to save in bottles and tubes for the study of trans-oceanic migration and micro-evolution.

1955 Locke & Booth Machine Translation Lang. 11 The main deficiency at the present time is the absence of adequate field dictionaries for various technical fields and for all relevant languages. Preparation of these microglossaries..is important, though tedious work. 1956 Nature 7 Jan. 1/1 To solve the problem of word-order, the grammatical structure of the language must be investigated in detail and micro-glossaries—stem-ending dictionaries in the specified subject—must be compiled and coded. 1960 E. Delavenay Introd. Machine Transl. vi. 91 Research since 1949 has led to the provisional conclusion that in scientific texts non-grammatical poly⁓semantic nouns and verbs do not present any great difficulty within the limits of the restricted vocabulary of any given science or technical subject. Thus special restricted dictionaries—microglossaries—should be constituted.

1960 Mech. Engin. July 71/3 Future investigations should be extended to a variety of materials to investigate further the validity of microplastic-strain hysteresis energy as a criterion for fatigue fracture. 1966 Jrnl. Strain Analysis I. 415/2 It is..a fact that plastic flow occurs in some parts of the cross-section even if the material is within the nominal elastic limit. This plastic deformation, which is of the same order of magnitude as the elastic strains, will be termed as [sic] micro-plastic throughout the paper. Ibid., It is believed that micro-plasticity constitutes an important source of failure in the case of metal fatigue. 1972 T. Imura in G. Thomas Electron Microsc. & Struct. Materials 129 The microplasticity can be attributed solely to the motion of edge dislocations.

1932 Fuller & Conard tr. Braun-Blanquet's Plant Sociol. xi. 272 Causes of injury are..direct effect upon soil formation by stirring of the fine earth and changing the microrelief (hummocks and paths). 1938 Geogr. Jrnl. XCII. 271 [Articles] deal with glaciation, with melting and formation of micro-relief, and with run-off and thawing of glaciers. 1968 R. W. Fairbridge Encycl. Geomorphol. 795 Relief refers to relative height, while microrelief refers to small-scale differences in relief. Microrelief consists of any minor undulations on the surface of the land, usually of a scale which would not show on a normal topographic map.

1946 Nature 28 Dec. 947/1 Two point sources of light of about the same brightness were presented to an observer by means of the micro-stimulation apparatus. 1972 Jap. Jrnl. Pharmacol. XXII. 635 (heading) Re-examination of a centrally-induced cough in cats using a micro-stimulation technique.

1956 W. H. Whyte Organization Man (1957) 28 Perhaps an overall theory of behavior is..a will-o'-the-wisp. If so, our efforts may still be rewarded by the salvage of microtheories about limited areas. 1971 Jrnl. Gen. Psychol. LXXXIV. 155 Almost all of them have been extremely cautious about extending their data to explanatory microtheories of the perceptual phenomena.

  c. Fashion. Denoting extreme shortness of a woman's garment, as in micromini, micro-shift, micro-skirt (hence micro-skirted adj.).

1967 Word Study Dec. 3/2 Mini..has undergone further compounding in the formation micromini denoting an exceptionally short miniskirt. 1971 ‘V. X. Scott’ Surrogate Wife 40 She wore micro-minis to show lots of leg.

1967 Punch 1 Mar. 308/2 The latest collection included a transparent micro-shift worn over an emaciated G-string.

1966 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 29 Aug. 11 Mini-skirts, Micro-skirts, Maxi-skirts—the fashion battle rages on in London. 1967 Punch 21 June 893/2 Micro-skirts are designed to keep elders in their place, for no woman over forty can wear them without looking idiotic. 1969 Guardian 27 May 2/4 Women students of Pretoria University turned up..in ankle-length and calf-length dresses, in a campaign against ‘micro-skirts’. 1973 J. Di Mona Last Man at Arlington (1974) viii. 73 A young blonde..in a microskirt.

1967 Times Educ. Suppl. 13 Oct. 763 (caption) Mortar-boarded candidate..for student office at Boston's North-eastern University and his mortar-boarded micro-skirted assistant.

  2. Prefixed to ns. and derived adjs. to denote ‘microscopic’ in the sense ‘with the microscope’, ‘revealed by the microscope’. a. Originally, denoting operations or branches of research carried on by means of microscopic examination; now often implying simply the smallness of scale of the subject, rather than any use of microscopy, and so passing into 6 (cf. macro- 1 e), as microanatomy (hence micro-anatomist), micro-cautery, micro-chemistry (hence micro-chemic, micro-chemical, adjs., micro-chemically adv.), micro-cinematography (so micro-cinematographic adj.), micro-crystallogeny, micro-crystallography, micro-dissection (hence micro-dissect vb.), micro-ecology, micro-geology (hence micro-geological adj., micro-geologist n.), micro-injection, micro-metallography (hence micro-metallographer), micro-metallurgy, micro-mineralogy (hence micro-mineralogical adj.), micro-operation (see also sense 1) (so micro-operative adj.), micro-palæontology (hence micro-palæontologic, -logical adjs., micro-palæontologist), micro-pathology (hence micro-pathological adj., micro-pathologist n.), micro-petrology (hence micro-petrologist), micro-physiography, micro-physiology (hence micro-physiologist), micro-sociology (hence micro-sociological adj.); micro-zoology. ˌmicro-maˈchining, the process or technique of shaping objects on a very small scale by non-mechanical means; ˌmicropinocyˈtosis Biol., a submicroscopic form of pinocytosis in which material is taken into a cell as a result of the invagination and pinching off of the cell surface; hence ˌmicropinocyˈtotic a.

1964 G. H. Haggis et al. Introd. Molecular Biol. i. 1 The concentration of anatomists and *microanatomists on finer and finer detail may be illustrated by four centuries of work on the structure of the vascular system and the blood.

1935 Times Lit. Suppl. 24 Oct. 662 What he has done is to present in a lively—almost exciting—way the more significant facts of human physiology and *micro-anatomy as far as they have yet been discovered. 1946 Nature 26 Oct. 578/1 His researches have been mainly in the fields of micro-anatomy, embryology and the more physiological side of zoology. 1962 Science Survey III. 252 Her main interests have been in the micro-anatomy of the retina and its relationship to visual function in different animals.

1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 835 The *micro-cautery has been used also with fair results.

1890 Syd. Soc. Lex. s.v., *Micro-chemic a., of or pertaining to micro-chemistry.

1856 Highley in Q. Jrnl. Microsc. Sci. IV. 221 An instrument of structural, physical, *micro-chemical, and crystallological research.

1847–9 Todd's Cycl. Anat. IV. 137/2 *Micro⁓chemically the cells of cancer are insoluble in cold and boiling water.

1940 Ann. Rev. Biochem. IX. 610 Little used by biochemists or *microchemists. 1971 Nature 7 May 11/1 There is also methane..in the indigenous rocks on the surface of the Moon. Is this..the remnant of the primordial gas from which the Moon was formed? That, no doubt, is a question that will preoccupy lunar micro⁓chemists for a long time to come.

1890 Syd. Soc. Lex. s.v., *Micro-chemistry, the chemical examination of minute bodies under the microscope.

1940 Chem. Abstr. XXXIV. 289 (heading) Micro tearing machine for the photomicrographic and *microcinematographic examination of materials. 1962 Lancet 1 Dec. 1172/1 The misshapen lymphocytes may reasonably be regarded as dying cells; this view is supported by the microcinematographic studies of human blood-cells by Bessis.

1952 Chem. Abstr. XLVI. 13336/3 *Microcinematography. 1971 Nature 10 Dec. 352/1 We are continuing to use single smooth muscle cells in dynamic studies of contraction recorded with microcinematography.

1856 Highley in Q. Jrnl. Microsc. Sci. IV. 124 *Micro-Crystallogeny.

Ibid. 223 *Micro-Crystallography.

1973 Ibid. 2 Mar. 52/1 Cytoplasm was *micro-dissected from salivary glands of larvae.

1915 Science 19 Feb. 291/1 The cells were isolated and studied by means of *microdissection and vital staining in a hanging drop of the insect body fluid. 1972 Sci. Amer. June 95/1 A small bundle of fibers from a single receptor is separated by microdissection from the main trunk of the optic nerve and placed on an electrode.

1963 New Society 3 Oct. 26/1 A pioneering work in the *micro-ecology of housing estates. 1969 Nature 29 Nov. 846/1 The microecology of the blowfly's gut has not been well explored.

1875 Dawson Dawn of Life v. 104 The *micro-geologist well knows how..mineral matter in solution can penetrate the smallest openings that the microscope can detect.

1857 Amer. Jrnl. Sci. Ser. ii. XXIV. 434 *Micro-geology of Ehrenberg. 1862 Stoddart in Q. Jrnl. Microsc. Sci. II. 147 On Micro-Geology.

1921 Science 28 Oct. 411/2 The microdissection and *microinjection of marine ova and of animal and plant cells. 1970 Nature 22 Aug. 857/2 For micro-injection we used a hydraulic system of mineral oil with the micro⁓pipette tip filled with tracer solution.

1960 K. R. Shoulders in Proc. Western Joint Computer Conf. 251/2 The most highly resolved construction process that we have any control over is what we call electron beam activated *micromachining. Ibid. 256/1 Electron-beam micromachining is the combination of certain methods of deposition, resist production, and etching. 1970 New Scientist 16 Apr. 101/1 Micromachining has received much publicity in the past, and forms the mainstay of Laser Associates' range of systems.

1895 Nature 15 Aug. 367/2 It may be that the *micro-metallographer has much to learn from the Japanese.

Ibid. 367/1 The progress which has been made in *micro-metallography during the past ten years.

1899 Proc. R. Soc. LXV. 85 (heading) Experiments in *micro-metallurgy:—Effects of strain. 1958 Engineering 11 Apr. 458/1 The accomplishments in micrometallurgy at the laboratory soon led to the determination of some of the properties of the new metal.

1856 Highley in Q. Jrnl. Microsc. Sci. IV. 223 The instruments of *Micro-Mineralogical research. 1887 Bonney in Q. Jrnl. Geol. Soc. XLIV. 44 The result is micro-mineralogical change only.

1856 Highley in Q. Jrnl. Microsc. Sci. IV. 220 (title) Contributions to *Micro-Mineralogy.

1913 Jrnl. R. Microsc. Soc. 207 (heading) Apparatus for *micro-operations. 1968 Sci. Jrnl. Nov. 54/1 Micro-operations such as removing parts of the embryo or grafting tissues from one embryo to another.

1922 Anatomical Rec. XXIV. 18 Instruments for *micro-operative work.

1941 Bull. Amer. Assoc. Petroleum Geologists XXV. 1208 The progressive multiplication of the *micropaleontologic groups studied is considered. Ibid. 1219 These micropaleontologic objects he called ‘microzoa’. 1972 Biol. Abstr. LIII. 3865/2 (heading) Lithologic and micropaleontologic study of the Lias..of Mayorca.

1929 Jrnl. Paleont. III. 229 (heading) *Micropaleontological activities. 1973 Nature 13 July 74/2 Theyer presented palaeomagnetic and micropalaeontological data which seemed to invalidate the timing of what was thought to be one of palaeontology's most reliable datum planes.

1928 Jrnl. Paleont. II. 159 This is no reflection upon the *micropaleontologist. 1972 Daily Tel. 31 Aug. 21 (Advt.), The palynologist should preferably have experience in the Mesozoic/Tertiary, the micropalaeontologist preferably on Mesozoic/Tertiary Foraminifera.

1883 A. H. Foord (title) Contributions to the *micropalæontology of the Cambro-Silurian rocks of Canada. Part 1. 1928 Jrnl. Paleont. II. 158 Micropaleontology should, in no way, radically depart from the general field and fundamental principles of paleontology. It is merely a study of the smaller fossils whose characteristic features are studied by the aid of a microscope. 1957 New Biol. XXIV. 11 Micro-palaeontology, which is mainly the study of fossil foraminifera, has become an important and highly specialized profession and practically the whole of current research on these animals is devoted to this aspect of the matter.

1879 Rutley Stud. Rocks vii. 47 The special study of *micro-petrology.

Ibid. xiii. 268 A determination of their precise origin is a difficult exercise for *micro-petrologists.

1974 Sci. Amer. May 136/3 Two clever *micro⁓physiologists have measured the power involved, and they conclude that one gliding algal filament..used about 7,300 molecules of ATP per second to move.

1954 New Biol. XVI. 37 We cannot expect to close the evolutionary gap preceding the establishment of cellular organisms until we know far more of intracellular histology and *microphysiology.

1956 Jrnl. Biophysical & Biochem. Cytol. II. Suppl. 107 The particles, possibly coated with protein, become attached to the plasma membrane. Minute invaginations of the membrane, with the adherent granules, develop. The invaginated membrane is pinched off, resulting in the formation of an intracellular vacuole. Possibly a type of *micropinocytosis takes place. 1973 Nature 2 Mar. 57/1 Electron microscopic studies..suggest that some synaptic vesicles form by a process of micropinocytosis at the presynaptic terminal membrane. Ibid. 57/2 A micropinocytotic origin of synaptic vesicles remains uncertain.

1942 Jrnl. Legal & Pol. Sociol. I. 55 We will forego here any prolonged analysis of this ‘*micro⁓sociological aspect’, and will concentrate all our attention on the functional relationship between democracy and types of particular groups and all-inclusive societies. 1944 Man XLIV. 21/1 The most valuable contribution of the social anthropologist may well still lie in this micro⁓sociological field. 1972 P. Sheriff tr. Rocher's Gen. Introd. Sociol. i. i. 4 The microsociological plane of different types of social links.

1941 Jrnl. Philos. XXXVIII. 486 The problems of mass, community, and communion arise in ‘*microsociology’. 1944 Man XLIV. 21/1 Much of the anthropologist's work has lain hitherto in what may be called micro-sociology—the study of small groups or of small units in larger groups. 1959 G. D. Mitchell Sociol. i. 23 These two traditions may be said to be the forerunners of the modern tendency for sociology to bifurcate into what may be called macro- and micro-sociology. 1966 P. A. Sorokin Sociol. Theories Today IV. xiv. 470 Micro⁓sociology studies the simplest manifestation of social reality—sociability, that is, ‘the multifarious ways of being bound by a whole and in a whole’. 1974 Times Lit. Suppl. 22 Nov. 1304/1 Micro-sociology, indeed any serious sociology of an analytic kind, has to begin with a study of the most elementary social relations.

1872 Q. Jrnl. Microsc. Sci. XII. 409 *Microzoology.

  b. Denoting properties revealed by microscopic examination, as micro-character, micro-foliation, micro-texture.

1890 Century Dict., *Microcharacter, any zoological character derived from microscopic or other minute examination.

1887 Bonney in Q. Jrnl. Geol. Soc. XLIV. 44 A *microfoliation only is produced, which..appears to be parallel to the original stratification.

1965 G. J. Williams Econ. Geol. N.Z. x. 157/2 The hardness and toughness of greenstone depends partly on its mineral composition, these qualities resulting from a *micro-texture of very closely felted and interwoven minute fibres. 1971 Good Motoring Sept. 9/2 A road surface which gives grip at low vehicle speeds must incorporate roadstone of a harsh rather than a polished micro⁓texture.

  c. Denoting objects prepared for microscopic examination, as micro-section, micro-slide.

1890 Century Dict., Microsection, a slice, as of rock, cut so thin as to be more or less transparent, and mounted on a glass in convenient form to be studied with the aid of the microscope. 1909 in Cent. Dict. Suppl. 1951 Electronic Engin. XXIII. 8/1 The combination of a television camera with a microscope makes it possible for a large group of students to watch simultaneously the events taking place on a microslide. 1971 McGraw-Hill Yearbk. Sci. & Technol. 359/2 A rapid detection method for the major components of cannabis..involves the use of microslides for thin-layer chromatography.

  3. Phys. and Path., in ns. of mod.L. form in -ia, compounded with Gr. names for different parts or functions of the body, and signifying arrested development of the part or function in question, as microceˈphalia (see microcephaly). microˈglossia, congenital smallness of the tongue (Mayne Expos. Lex. 1856). microˈgyria, abnormal smallness of the gyri of the brain. microˈmastia [Gr. µαστ-ός breast], the condition in a post-pubertal woman of having an abnormally small breast. microˈmazia [Gr. µαζ-ός breast] = prec. microphˈthalmia (also anglicized ˈmicrophthalmy) [Gr. ὀϕθαλµός eye], ‘a Disease in the Eyes, the having little Eyes’ (Bailey, 1731); hence microphˈthalmic a.; also microphˈthalmos, abnormal smallness of the eye. miˈcropsia (also ˈmicropsy) [Gr. -οψία kind of vision], term for the state of vision in which objects appear smaller than natural (Mayne).

1890 Billings Med. Dict. II. 154/1 *Microgyria. 1905 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 28 Oct. 1100/1 In this case of microgyria the right side of the brain was less than two-thirds the size of the left. 1920 Brain XLIII. 26 Microgyria, which has hitherto been usually known under the name of hemiatrophy of the brain or arrested development of the nervous system, has been comparatively rarely described, and merits further study. 1961 Lancet 2 Sept. 513/2 Microgyria was apparent in the posterior part of both lobes.

1918 Deaver & McFarland Breast iii. 45 These terms are applied to conditions in which there is congenital total absence of one or both of the mammary glands, or in which one or both glands are undeveloped or rudimentary in development. To the latter condition the term ‘*micromastia’ might more correctly be applied. 1953 New Statesman 5 Sept. 254/3 About 4,000,000 young American women suffer in some degree from micromastia (immature breasts). 1965 L. B. Arey Developmental Anat. (ed. 7) xxiii. 452 Retention of the prepubertal condition (micromastia).

1890 Syd. Soc. Lex., *Micromazia. 1894 W. R. Williams Monogr. Dis. Breast iii. 33 When the defect is less complete than in the above cases, we get a very small imperfectly-developed gland, like the normal male breast, or smaller—micromazia. 1928 F. Z. Snoop From Monotremes to Madonna 22 The breast may be absent, amazia; or very small, micromazia.

1856 Mayne Expos. Lex., *Microphthalmia, term for a morbid shrinking or wasting of the eye-balls; microphthalmy.

[1845 Dublin Jrnl. Med. Sci. XXVII. 29 Microphthalmus is the term applied by continental writers to that peculiar condition of the eye, when there appears to be an arrest of development of this organ at some particular period of its growth, without either atrophy or disease.] 1850 Boston Med. & Surg. Jrnl. XLII. 421 (heading) *Microphthalmos, complicated with congenital cataract in both eyes. 1934 Arch. Ophthalm. XI. 516 It is justifiable to consider the two forms of microphthalmos as one genetic entity with the morphologic distinction between microphthalmos with external, or orbital, cysts and microphthalmos with intraocular cysts. 1971 Amer. Jrnl. Ophthalm. LXXI. 1128/1 In colobomatous microphthalmos, the pathogenesis of the small eye is related to faulty closure of the embryonic fissure.

1849 Craig, *Microphthalmy, a preternatural or morbid smallness of the eyes.

1868 Darwin Anim. & Pl. II. 24 Two sons were *microphthalmic.

1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 107 *Micropsia, or macropsia may be associated with the monocular diplopia.

1890 W. James Princ. Psychol. ii. xix. 93 In consequence of this so-called *micropsy, Aubert relates that he saw a man apparently no larger than a photograph.

  4. Prefixed to an adj. with the sense ‘containing or possessed of some object or constituent in minute form, quantity or degree’, as microˈaerophil(e = microaërophilous; also as n., a microaerophile organism. ˌmicroaeroˈphilic = microaërophilous. microaëˈrophilous [Gr. ἀερ-, ἀήρ air, ϕίλ-ος friend: see -ous] Bot., needing but little free oxygen (Jackson Gloss. Bot. 1900). microˈcarpous [Gr. καρπός fruit] Bot., having small fruit; also applied to mosses, having small urns (Mayne Expos. Lex. 1856). microˈcellular, containing or characterized by minute cells. microˈceratous, -cerous [Gr. κέρας horn] Ent., having small antennæ (Ibid. ). microˈclastic [clastic] Geol., minutely clastic. microˈdactylous Path. [Gr. δάκτυλος digit], having small digits (Syd. Soc. Lex. 1890). ˈmicrodont Anat. [Gr. ὀδοντ-, ὀδούς tooth], having small or short teeth. microˈdontous [f. prec.], in the same sense (Syd. Soc. Lex.). micro-eˈlectric, having electric properties in a very small degree (Cent. Dict.). ˈmicroform Bot., epithet of a heterœcious fungus with teleutospores only, which require a period of rest before germinating (Jackson Gloss. Bot.). microgranuˈlitic Geol. (see quot.). microlepiˈdotous Zool. [Gr. λεπιδωτός scaly, f. λεπιδ-, λεπίς scale], having very small scales (Mayne). microˈpetalous Bot. [Gr. πέταλος a petal], having very small petals (Craig 1849). miˈcrophagous Zool. [-phagous], feeding on minute particles. microˈphyllous Bot. [Gr. ϕύλλον leaf], having small leaves (Smart 1840). microporphyˈritic Geol., consisting of porphyritic rock in which the felspar or other crystals are of microscopic size. micropteˈrygious Zool. [Gr. πτέρυξ fin], having small fins (Mayne). microˈspermous Bot. [Gr. σπέρµα seed], having very small seeds or grains (Mayne). microspheruˈlitic Geol., characterized by the presence of microscopic spherulites. ˈmicrospined, furnished with minute spines or spicules. microˈsplenic Path., not accompanied by enlargement of the spleen. microˈstomatous, miˈcrostomous [Gr. στοµατ-, στόµα mouth], having a small mouth (Mayne). microˈstylar Arch., having a small style or column, epithet applied to a form of architecture in which there is a separate small order to each floor (Ogilvie, 1882). microˈvascular, of or pertaining to the smallest blood-vessels.

1903 Science 6 Mar. 371/1 The *microaerophiles will grow luxuriantly under normal conditions under diminished oxygen pressure. 1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl., Micro-aërophile a. 1957 G. E. Hutchinson Treat. Limnol. I. xiii. 757 It would seem that the limnetic purple bacteria are microaerophil rather than anaerobic. 1970 Passmore & Robson Compan. Med. Stud. II. xviii. 46/2 These micro⁓aerophiles often prefer a concentration of CO2 that is higher than normal, e.g. 5–10 per cent.

1903 Science 6 Mar. 371 Clostridium Pasteurianum..is an anaerobe, but it also grows in symbiosis with aerobic forms; it is, therefore, *microaerophilic. 1971 Nature 9 July 132/2 Campylobacter, a genus of microaerophilic bacteria including the organism formerly called Vibrio fetus.

1909 Webster, *Microcellular. 1958 Punch 8 Oct. 476/3 Bottines have micro-cellular rubber soles and are very neat and light. 1965 Biol. Abstr. XLVI. 5347/1 (heading) Complex treatment of the microcellular bronchial carcinoma by means of the nitrogen mustard and X-rays. 1971 D. G. Jones in C. M. Blow Rubber Technol. & Manuf. x. 397 Microcellular soling containing minute discrete air cells and having a specific gravity as low as 0·3 is also used extensively.

1888 Teall Brit. Petrogr. 439 *Microclastic, an epithet applied by Naumann to such clastic rocks as are composed of small fragments.

1884 Flower in Jrnl. Anthrop. Inst. XIV. 185 The *Microdont section, containing all the so-called Caucasian or white races. Ibid., Microdont Races.

1885 Geikie Text-bk. Geol. (ed. 2) 109 Where the minerals are grouped in small isolated grain-like individuals,..the structure has been named by French petrographers granulitic, or where only discernible by the aid of the microscope, *micro-granulitic.

1923 J. W. Folsom Entomol. (ed. 3) xiii. 373 According to the nature of their food, most insects may be classified as follows:..*microphagous ([feeding] on micro-organisms, as bacteria, yeasts, etc.). 1950 Microphagous [see chemotaxis]. 1963 R. P. Dales Annelids iii. 76 The evolution of the Polychaeta is thus mirrored by the evolution of feeding methods; a transition in one direction towards burrowing, tube building, sedentary life and microphagous feeding; and in the other to a more active scavenging or predatory existence.

1878 Lawrence tr. Cotta's Rocks Class. 67 *Micro-porphyritic textures or structures of rock. 1879 Rutley Stud. Rocks xi. 185 Rocks in which very small isolated crystals occur only being spoken of as micro⁓porphyritic.

1885 Geikie Text-bk. Geol. (ed. 2) 111 In many cases spherulites are only recognisable with the microscope, when they each present a black cross between crossed Nicol⁓prisms, and thereby characteristically reveal the *micro⁓spherulitic structure.

1881 P. M. Duncan in Jrnl. Linn. Soc. XV. 324 These..have flesh-spicula acerate, fusiform, curved and *microspined.

1905 H. D. Rolleston Dis. Liver 318 Gilbert..speaks of this as the *microsplenic or asplenomegalic form of biliary cirrhosis.

1959 Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. LXXXII. 236 Can anything be learned about the mechanism that damages blood vessels in diabetes mellitus by studying the dynamic morphology of the superficial *microvascular system in man? 1967 Sci. News Let. 9 Sept. 262 Precise formations of the *microvascular system and other spaces in organs of dead animals are revealed in detail when this liquid silicone compound is injected.

  5. a. Physics. Prefixed to the name of a unit to form a name for one-millionth part of that unit, as micro-ampere, micro-bar [bar n.⁶ 1, 2], micro-calorie, micro-coulomb, micro-curie, micro-farad, micro-gramme (Webster 1902), micro-henry [henry³], micro-inch, micro-litre (Cent. Dict. 1890), micro-mho, micro-millimetre (see also below), micro-ohm, micro-poise, micro-rad, micro-second, micro-volt, micro-watt, micro-weber. ˈmicrodegree, one millionth of a degree centigrade (kelvin). Also duplicated to denote division by a million million (corresponding to the single prefix pico-), as in micromicrocurie, -farad. b. In microscopic botany, micro-millimetre has by some been used for one-thousandth of a millimetre.

[1873 Rep. Brit. Assoc. 224 For multiplication or division by a million, the prefixes mega and micro may conveniently be employed.]

1904 Westm. Gaz. 16 July 10/3 A *micro-ampere is the millionth part of an ampere.

1918 *Microbar [see bar n.6 2]. 1963 Jerrard & McNeill Dict. Sci. Units 22 Acoustic pressure of the order of one dyne cm-2 is now described by the microbar. 1971 Nature 1 Jan. 15/3 The figures..indicate that a pressure wave moving at 330 m s-1 generates a displacement of the Earth's surface of 10 to 15 nanometres per microbar with periods between 20 and 100 s.

1969 Sci. Jrnl. Aug. 42 Heat flow through the ocean crust is on average 1·2 *microcalories/cm2/s except in active regions such as mid-ocean ridges.

1892 Gloss. Electr. Terms 12 in Lightning 3 Mar. Supp., *Microcoulomb.

1911 Sci. Amer. 29 Apr. 429 The ‘optimum’ or most favorable dose of radiation, which developed the mold in four days, was found to be ½ *microcurie per cubic centimeter of air. 1958 Immunology I. 29 The status of the grafts was assessed at monthly intervals after grafting by administering 5 microcuries of 131I intraperitoneally. 1970 Passmore & Robson Compan. Med. Stud. II. vi. 8/2 When used for diagnostic purposes, radioiodine is usually given by mouth in a dose of 5–15 microcuries.

1957 Science Progress XLV. 415 Another..task would be the study of lattice specific heats at *microdegree temperatures. 1971 Physics Bull. Dec. 713/1 Recent work, such as the specific heat measurement by Ahlers (1971) is characterized by temperature resolution as small as a microdegree.

1873 Rep. Brit. Assoc. 224 The *microfarad is the millionth part of a farad.

1890 Syd. Soc. Lex., *Micro⁓gramme. A measure of weight..it is equivalent to the one thousandth of a milligramme. 1868 L. Clark Electr. Meas. 43 One millionth part of an ohm = 1 *microhm.

1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl., *Microhenry. 1911 Physical Rev. XXXII. 612 (heading) Inductance in microhenrys. 1964 R. F. Ficchi Electr. Interference iv. 39 Experience has shown that as the L exceeds 0·025 microhenries in magnitude, the effectiveness of the bond diminishes rapidly.

1941 Oberg & Jones Machinery's Handbk. (ed. 11) 1776 Assume that the quantities a, b, c, etc., equal the various profile measurements in *micro-inches. 1962 B.S.I. News June 24/2 Another firm..even specified surface finished [? read finishes] in micro-inches on their drawings. 1970 Sci. Amer. Mar. 142/3 The rotor is driven magnetically on a superb ball-bearing axis. (The tolerances are specified to five or 10 microinches.)

1919 Electric Jrnl. XVI. 322 *Micromhos per mile of each conductor. 1940 Bell System Technical Publ. Monograph B-1268 7 One interesting commercial tube in which one stage of secondary electron multiplication is added to an ordinary tetrode, has a transconductance of 14,000 micromhos. 1962 Simpson & Richards Physical Princ. Junction Transistors viii. 175 Present values of its mutual conductance are small (∼100 micromhos).

1961 Daily Tel. 10 Oct. 18/3 In the past 23 days, the average amount of radioactivity in every kilogram of air has been 3·42 *micro-microcuries.

1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl., *Micro-microfarad. 1921 Physical Rev. XVIII. 143 This plate had coatings so small that its normal capacity was only about 0·67 micro-micro-farads. 1962 Corson & Lorrain Introd. Electromagn. Fields ii. 60 A sphere one meter in radius has a capacitance of about 100 micro-microfarads.

1884 Flint Princ. & Pract. Med. (ed. 5) 62 Whose size is between two and six *micromillimetres. 1887 tr. Nägeli & Schwendener's Microscope 293 Harting's proposal to use the micromillimetre (= ·001 mm.) as the standard of unity deserves general acceptance.

1941 Ann. Reg. 1940 353 For hydrogen vapour it [sc. the viscosity] is c. 10 *micropoise at 14·5° K. 1963 Jerrard & McNeill Dict. Sci. Units 107 The viscosity of gases is frequently given in micropoises (µP); (air 181 µP at 20° C).

1969 Times 2 Sept. 10/4 On some of the islands of the atoll..the intensity of fall-out radiation range[s] from three to seven *microrads an hour.

1906 A. E. Kennelly Wireless Telegr. ix. 99 If we call the one millionth part of a second one *microsecond for convenience of description, then one complete wave would pass off in 1/2·5 microsecond. 1942 J. D. Stranathan ‘Particles’ of Mod. Physics xii. 481 These particles are radioactive with a half life of a few microseconds. 1966 T. Pynchon Crying of Lot 49 v. 114 ‘Nearly three weeks it takes him,’ marvelled the efficiency expert, ‘to decide. You know how long it would've taken the IBM 7094? Twelve micro-seconds.’

1868 L. Clark Electr. Meas. 43 One millionth of a volt = 1 *microvolt.

1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl., *Micro⁓watt. 1914 R. Stanley Text-bk. Wireless Telegr. xvii. 261 Duddell carried out experiments to find the minimum power required to produce audible signals in a telephone receiver at different frequencies, and found that, while 430 microwatts were required at 300 frequency, only 7·7 microwatts were required at 900 frequency. 1970 Physics Bull. Sept. 403/2 Sound power of the order of a microwatt from a dripping tap.

1896 Jrnl. Soc. Arts 10 July 701/1 *Microwebers × linkages = microcoulombs × ohms.

  6. Prefixed to the names of instruments and techniques with the sense ‘specially designed for dealing with or measuring small effects or small quantities of material’. (In the names of techniques this use passes into 2 a.) microammeter, micro-balance, micro-burette (U.S. micro-buret), micro-calorimeter (hence micro-calorimetric adj., micro-calorimetry), micro-densitometer (hence micro-densitometric adj., micro-densitometry), micro-determination, micro-electrophoresis (hence micro-electrophoretic adj., micro-electrophoretically adv.), micro-estimation, micro-gasometer (hence micro-gasometric adj., micro-gasometrically adv., micro-gasometry), micro-gravimetric adj., micro-Kjeldahl (used attrib. or absol.: cf. Kjeldahl), micro-manometer (hence micro-manometric adj., micro-manometrically adv.), micro-method, micro-photometer (hence micro-photometric adj., micro-photometry), micro-pipette, micro-respirometer [ad. G. mikrorespirometer (T. Thunberg 1904, in Zentralbl. f. Physiol. 3 Dec. 553)] (hence micro-respirometric adj., micro-respirometry), micro-spectrograph (hence micro-spectrographic adj., micro-spectrography), micro-spectrophotometer (so micro-spectrophotometric adj., micro-spectrophotometrically adv., micro-spectrophotometry), micro-syringe, micro-technique; micro-audiphone, an instrument for reinforcing or augmenting very feeble sounds (Cent. Dict. 1890). micro-barograph, an instrument designed to magnify the minor fluctuations of atmospheric pressure. micro-battery, a very small galvanic battery (Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl. 1884). ˈmicroburner, a small Bunsen burner for giving a single small flame. micro-detector, a sensitive galvanoscope (Cent. Dict.). microdiˈffusion Chem., diffusion of the vapour of a substance in an open container into an adjacent container in which there is a second substance, by which the first may be detected; usu. attrib. ˈmicrofilter, a filter for separating out small quantities of material or very fine particles. ˌmicro-incineˈration, a process by which tissue sections are heated to a high temperature so as to remove organic matter and facilitate chemical analysis in situ of the inorganic constituents left behind. ˈmicroneedle, a very fine needle used in micromanipulation. micropantograph, an instrument invented by Mr. Peters in 1852 for the production of microscopically small writing (Knight Dict. Mech. 1875). micro-polariscope, a polariscope for the analysis of microscopic objects. ˈmicroprobe = microanalyser; also as v. trans., to analyse with a microanalyser. micro-refractometer, a refractometer specially constructed for the detection of differences in the minute structure of blood corpuscles. microrheometer, an instrument for measuring the rate of flow of liquids through a capillary tube; hence microrheoˈmetrical a., pertaining to or indicated by a microrheometer (Cassell's Encycl. Dict. 1885). micro-tasimeter, an instrument invented in 1878 by T. A. Edison for measuring infinitesimal pressure. micro-telephone, a telephone constructed to render audible very weak sounds; hence micro-teleˈphonic a. (Cent. Dict.).

1930 Telegraph & Telephone Jrnl. Dec. 47/2 The deflection on the *microammeter is proportional to the speed at which the tongue of the standard relay is oscillating, and a direct speed reading is given on the microammeter scale in terms of words per minute or cycles per second. 1964 R. F. Ficchi Electr. Interference vii. 127 A useful indicating device for locating leaks can easily be constructed using a tuned circuit consisting of a coil and variable condenser together with a 0-100 microammeter and crystal diode detector (1N34).

1903 Jrnl. Chem. Soc. LXXXIV. ii. 571 A *micro-balance with torsional control is described, having a sensitiveness of 0·0380 mg. per scale division. 1966 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. II. 74/1 Micro⁓balances, used to weigh masses of a fraction of a gram, may be of the beam or the torsion type.

1904 Athenæum 31 Dec. 911/3 The authors described an apparatus called the ‘*micro-barograph’.

1878 Eng. Mechanic 23 Aug. 602 A *Micro-battery for the Microphone.

1926 Chem. Abstr. XX. 2543 A *microburet for measuring minute drops is described. 1946 Nature 19 Oct. 556/2 The apparatus is completed by a microburette mounted on a movable arm. 1964 Micro buret [see burette 2].

1911 Jrnl. Infectious Dis. VIII. 351 Natural gas for the *microburner may be improved by causing it to pass through alcohol or benzine. 1938 Jrnl. Laboratory & Clin. Med. XXIV. 310 Two cubic centimeter samples of unhemolyzed serum are digested in pyrex test tubes..with 1·5 c.c. of concentrated sulfuric acid... The digestion may be carried out..rapidly by the direct flame of a microburner. 1962 B.S.I. News July 28 Specifies the following items of apparatus for use in micro-chemical analysis: (i) Crucible holder... (ii) Micro-burner jet for use with coal gas, giving a non⁓luminous flame up to about 5 cm in height.

1911 Jrnl. Physiol. XLIII. 261 (heading) A new form of differential *micro-calorimeter, for the estimation of heat production in physiological, bacteriological, or ferment actions. 1959 Dawson & Long Chem. of Nucl. Power i. 9 A microcalorimeter has been developed at Harwell for the rapid estimation of small amounts of polonium.

1924 Chem. Abstr. XVIII. 2723 (heading) Utilization in biology of the *micro⁓calorimetric method. 1971 Nature 22 Oct. 560/2 Micro⁓calorimetric studies of sperm whale ferri-MbCN have demonstrated a change in heat capacity (Cp) in the range 35° {pm} 18° C.

1924 Chem. Abstr. XVIII. 4483 *Microcalorimetry. 1973 Nature 16 Feb. 473/1 For research purposes, microcalorimetry provides highly informative data regarding microbial metabolism.

1935 Discovery Nov. 324 *Micro-densitometer for analysing sound track. 1966 Aviation Week & Space Technol. 5 Dec. 99/3 The CRT system will be used..as a flying spot scanner and will scan through a precision optical chain providing a high-resolution microdensitometer.

1959 Listener 12 Mar. 451/2 *Micro-densitometric tracing of the profile of the crater. 1973 H. L. Snyder in L. M. Bibermann Perception of Displayed Information iii. 89 The X-Y luminance patterns of any given object or area of a scene can then be determined by scanning microdensitometric measurements for a film transparency input to the television system.

1957 A. Engström in V. E. Cosslett et al. X-Ray Microsc. & Microradiogr. 32 *Microdensitometry of the fine-grained photographic emulsion presents the same type of problems as does direct microspectrography of biological material. 1973 Nature 17 Aug. 413/1 More has been achieved from a digitized array of optical densities of the image obtained by microdensitometry.

1925 Analyst L. 302 (heading) *Micro-determination of methoxyl. 1947 Cheronis & Entrikin Semimicro Qualitative Org. Analysis ii. 72 The Alber specific-gravity pipettes that are commercially available may be used for the microdetermination of densities. 1967 Oceanogr. & Marine Biol. V. 173 A colorimetric method has recently been described for micro⁓determination of lipids.

1939 E. J. Conway Micro-Diffusion Analysis & Volumetric Error i. 4 (heading) Scale and accuracy of the *micro-diffusion methods described. Ibid. ii. 7 (heading) A standard micro-diffusion apparatus or unit. 1956 Nature 31 Mar. 623/2 The asparaginase activity of the extract was estimated from the ammonia formed (by the Conway microdiffusion method).

1959 Times 14 Oct. 14/5 Ultracentrifuge and *micro-electrophoresis equipment. 1971 Nature 22 Oct. 567/1 Cell electrophoresis was performed with a thin walled cylindrical cell in a particle micro-electrophoresis apparatus.

1961 Lancet 16 Sept. 656/2 *Microelectrophoretic analyses of the ribosenucleic acid formed in the neurone and in the glia. 1973 Neuropharmacology XII. 77 A technique has been described for stereotaxically performing microelectrophoretic studies on single brain cells in awake, non-paralyzed cats.

1963 Federation Proc. XXII. 625/2 Responses of neurones to *microelectrophoretically applied Acetylcholine (ACh)..have been obtained. 1973 Jrnl. Pharmacy & Pharmacol. XXV. 309 Responses of single cortical neurons to microelectrophoretically applied noradrenaline at pH 3·1 and 5·0 and to hydrogen ions were compared in the halothane-anaesthetized cat.

1922 Analyst XLVII. 80 (heading) *Micro-estimation of nitrogen and its biological applications. 1972 Analytical Chem. XLIV. 1879 (heading) Simultaneous microestimation of choline and acetylcholine by gas chromatography.

1911 Jrnl. Chem. Soc. C. ii. 225 (heading) A *micro-filter for the treatment of small quantities of precipitate. 1958 Ann. Rep. Chief Inspector of Factories on Industr. Health 1957 23 in Parl. Papers 1958–9 (Cmnd. 558) XIII. 183 He wore a micro⁓filter respirator. 1972 Physics Bull. Aug. 455/1 The difference is due to the use of a microfilter in an aircraft fuelling system.

1951 Amer. Jrnl. Clin. Path. XXI. 1153 (heading) A practical *microgasometer for estimation of carbon dioxide. 1972 Analytical Biochem. XLV. 112 The magnetic diver microgasometer is operated at a constant pressure so that the enclosed gas bubble can contract or expand freely.

1956 Nature 28 Jan. 185/2 In 1937, Linderstr{obar}m-Lang introduced a *microgasometric method based on the principle of the Cartesian diver. 1967 Internat. Jrnl. Neuropharmacol. VI. 266 The electron microscopic-cytochemical technique has been applied directly to unfixed isolated neurons following microgasometric analysis.

1968 Progress Brain Res. XXIX. 41 Ultracytochemistry was then applied to individual neurons, which had been analyzed *microgasometrically.

1957 G. E. Hutchinson Treat. Limnol. I. xvii. 879 A technique involving characteristically ingenious *microgasometry..has been used by Krogh and Lange. 1972 Analytical Biochem. XLV. 115 The dimensions of the ampullas most frequently used for magnetic microgasometry.

1931 Industr. & Engin. Chem. (Analytical Ed.) III. 345 An apparatus is described for *microgravimetric analyses, such as sulfate, halide, and phosphate determinations. 1966 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. II. 199/2 Microgravimetric analyses, in which weighings are made to {pm}0·002 mg on a Kuhlman beam balance.

1924 Analyst XLIX. 52 (heading) *Micro-incineration applicable to histochemical investigation. 1969 Brown & Bertke Textbk. Cytol. iii. 23/1 Micro-incineration involves the ashing of tissue sections at a temperature of about 600°C. This method can provide information regarding general distribution of certain minerals.

1923 Jrnl. Amer. Chem. Soc. XLVI. 2069 A new *micro-Kjeldahl method..has been devised. 1946 Nature 30 Nov. 791/1 The extract was then filtered and its nitrogen content determined by micro-Kjeldahl. 1973 Analytical Biochem. LIII. 36 We have developed two simple modifications which minimize, if not eliminate, the excessive foaming encountered during micro Kjeldahl digestion of biological materials.

1897 Jrnl. Physical Chem. I. 596 The author's *micromanometer (l.c., 1895), giving measurements accurate to 0·0033 mm water or 0·00024 mm mercury was used. 1949 O. G. Sutton Sci. of Flight 201 The most sensitive micromanometer in general use, the Chattock-Fry gauge, is simply a glorified U-tube. 1972 Physics Bull. Aug. 491/2 The new vacuum micromanometer has been designed for applications requiring sensitive differential pressure measurements at high vacuum levels.

1937 Discovery July 224/2 We have new *micromanometric techniques which can be applied directly to small-celled animals or plants in life. 1956 Jrnl. Laboratory & Clin. Med. XLVII. 642 The development of the micromanometric methods described herein was undertaken because of the need for a precise but rapid method for detecting sudden alterations in acid-base balance.

1973 Jrnl. Neurochem. XX. 1029 The rate of oxygen consumption has been measured *micromanometrically in fresh mouse neuroblastoma cells.

1920 Jrnl. Soc. Chem. Industry 15 Mar. 206a/1 A *micro-method in which 1–2 c.c of urine and 1·5–3 c.c. of alkali need only be used. 1946 Nature 10 Aug. 199/2 We have developed a new micro⁓method for X-ray diffraction investigation of biological objects. 1967 Oceanogr. & Marine Biol. V. 171 A micro⁓method for determination of protein in extremely small quantities by the quenching of dye fluorescence has also been described. 1974 Nature 3 May 37/2 Studies of lymphocyte transformation in vitro were carried out by our micromethod.

1921 Science 28 Oct. 411/2 The method of making the glass *micro-needles and pipettes. 1940 C. S. Sherrington Man on his Nature iv. 116 The protein coat of the fertilized egg-cell..can be cut by the ‘microneedle’ without loss of its rigidity. 1971 Nature 2 July 28/2 The microneedles are made from 1 mm ‘Pyrex’ or borosilicate glass rod drawn out to form a thin (∼0·3 mm) shaft, ∼50 mm long.

1899 J. Hartmann in Astrophysical Jrnl. X. 325 The apparatus..may be designated as a *microphotometer, since it is a combination of microscope and photometer. 1947 Jrnl. Brit. Interplanetary Soc. VI. 162 Meteor light-curves, which must be examined photographically, with the help of a recording microphotometer. 1971 Tsitologiya XIII. 1530 The scanning and integrating microphotometer permits to define the quantity of substance, area and the linear dimension of micro-objects.

1952 Chromosoma V. 341 The *microphotometric evaluation of cytochemical color reactions, such as the Feulgen-reaction on desoxyribose nucleic acid (DNA), has in recent years attained increasing importance. 1960 Jrnl. Histochem. & Cytochem. VIII. 4/1 It is of importance in some microphotometric studies of cells and tissues to determine the protein content of a single cell, nucleus, or nucleolus.

1937 Monthly Notices R. Astr. Soc. XCVIII. 113 A slit ·025 mm. wide and

1918 Biol. Bull. XXXIV. 134 The capillary attraction in the lumen of a *micropipette..is quite sufficient for the purpose. 1922 Anatomical Rec. XXIV. 2 With the micro⁓pipette..one can..inject substances into..a cell. 1955 Sci. Amer. Aug. 98/2 Deposit five thousandths of a milliliter of serum on the ruled strip with a calibrated micro⁓pipette. 1968 Times 14 Nov. 8/7 A few of the cells, typically about three, are sucked up into a micropipette and injected through the slit in the first embryo.

1867 J. Hogg Microsc. i. ii. 147 The powers of the *micro-polariscope cannot be better displayed than in the exhibition of the foregoing phenomena.

1960 Oxf. Univ. Gaz. 19 Feb. 743/2 X-ray Fluorescent *Micro-probe. A study is being made of the possible archaeological applications of this very new technique. 1969 Awake! 22 Oct. 19/2 A painting that was supposedly done by a sixteenth-century painter was exposed as a forgery by this laser device, which is called a microprobe. 1973 Nature 12 Jan. 87/1 Six olivines (three from Venezuela and three from Ghana) microprobed at the Geophysical Laboratory in Washington showed..an extremely constant Ni content. 1974 McGraw-Hill Yearbk. Sci. & Technol. 291/2 The ion microprobe mass spectrometer uses primary ions of argon or oxygen..that are focused to a 1–2-µm spot before the sample is bombarded.

1886 Athenæum 27 Mar. 427/1 Mr. Crisp exhibited..Prof. Exner's new *micro-refractometer.

1905 Jrnl. Chem. Soc. LXXXVIII. ii. 44 By means of an apparatus termed the ‘*micro-respirometer’..the respiratory exchanges in small objects like nerves can actually be measured. 1946 Nature 27 July 126/2 A Cartesian diver micro-respirometer. 1965 B. E. Freeman tr. Vandel's Biospeleol. xx. 342 The measurement of respiration is carried out in respiratory chambers or micro-respirometers.

1905 Jrnl. Chem. Soc. LXXXVIII. ii. 44 *Micro-respirometric investigations. 1970 Acta Soc. Bot. Poloniae XXXIX. 497 The micro-respirometric technique has been used for many research works on leaves and leaf segments.

1960 E. J. Boell in Sasser & Jenkins Nematology viii. 109 (heading) The Cartesian diver technique in *microrespirometry and enzyme assay. 1973 Soil Biol. & Biochem. V. 271 A new method has been developed for microrespirometry utilizing gas chromatography.

1879 Proc. Roy. Soc. XXVIII. 280 The author [J. B. Hannay] proposes to use for liquids the term ‘Microrheosis’,..the instrument being called the *microrheometer.

1934 Photogr. Jrnl. LXXIV. 518/2 The application of the *microspectrograph to the identification of organic compounds. 1953 Experientia IX. 422/2 The transmission curves obtained with the microspectrograph were transformed into extinction curves.

1950 T. Caspersson Cell Growth & Cell Function iii. 61 There are two groups of cell substances that are more easily studied by *microspectrographic procedures than any others. These are the proteins..and the polynucleotides.

1947 Acta Path. & Microbiol. Scand. XXIV. 417 (heading) Ultraviolet *microspectrography as an aid in the study of the nucleotide content of bacteria. 1957 Microspectrography [see microdensitometry above].

1951 Rev. Sci. Instruments XXII. 866/2 The electronic part of the *microspectrophotometer consists of the two photocells, one above the other. 1966 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. II. 595/1 Such microspectrophotometers, capable of carrying out spectral analyses within the dimensions of a single cell, will play an increasingly powerful role in furthering our knowledge of cell biology.

1950 T. Caspersson Cell Growth & Cell Function ii. 45 This is a further reason for the use of high-aperture lenses in *microspectrophotometric work. 1970 Nature 17 Oct. 255/2 Microspectrophotometric analyses of the salic particles in the visible and near ultraviolet show a continuous absorption spectrum increasing towards the ultraviolet.

1951 Exper. Cell Res. II. 301 In order to obtain significant data on the content of a certain absorbing substance of a whole cell the only as yet available way is to work *microspectrophotometrically with photographic procedures. 1971 J. M. Paulus Platelet Kinetics 330 Ploidy measurements of megakaryocytes have usually been obtained by determining microspectrophotometrically the total relative extinction of megakaryocyte nuclei.

1935 Chem. Abstr. XXIX. 1117 (heading) Ultraviolet absorption spectrum of sea-urchin eggs. Technic of *microspectrophotometry. 1972 Amer. Jrnl. Bot. LIX. 829/1 The two-wavelength method of microspectrophotometry..was employed in the Feulgen-DNA studies.

1958 Listener 9 Oct. 563/1 The bacterial virus is really a tiny syringe—a *microsyringe. 1973 Internat. Jrnl. Peptide & Protein Res. V. 208/1 All dilutions and sampling by volume were performed with a microsyringe..that delivered volumes accurate to 10-3 {pm} 5 × 10-4 ml.

1878 Jrnl. Franklin Inst. CVI. 173 Edison's *Micro-tasimeter.

1892 Jrnl. R. Microsc. Soc. 555 (heading) Zimmermann's botanical *microtechnique. 1956 Nature 28 Jan. 153/1 The general climate of micro-chemistry has changed greatly in the interval. In 1949 the applications of micro-techniques were few and not very widely used, but at the present day they are ubiquitous. 1964 Oceanogr. & Marine Biol. II. 111 The micro-techniques described here are primarily those for small or micro-amounts of sea water.

1881 Athenæum 12 Feb. 238/2 Father Deuza, the Italian astronomer, has been making some experiments with the *micro-telephone.

  7. Prefixed to a n. (or used attrib. without a hyphen) to indicate that the object designated has been reduced in size by the use of microphotography, or is used in connection with such an object, as micro book, micro edition, micro-record, micro-recording, micro-reproduction, micro-text; ˈmicro-reader, -viewer, an apparatus that produces from microfilm or microprint an image enlarged sufficiently to be readable.

1970 New Scientist 31 Dec. 601/1 The micro book..opens up the prospect of vast reductions in the world's consumption of paper. 1971 Brit. Printer Jan. 80/1 An inventor, who has been working for two years to develop a practicable ‘micro book’, has come up with a solution. Ibid., Microfilming was not the simplest or most economical way of producing a micro book.

1970 New Scientist 31 Dec. 601/2 Publishers of technical journals..could put out in micro editions some of the..specialised research material that cannot be included in their normal issues. 1971 Brit. Printer Jan. 80/2 PVC paper also has the advantage, for micro editions, of being durable, difficult to tear and waterproof.

1949 M. C. Keeleyside in Summary Proc. 3rd Ann. Conf. Amer. Theol. Library Assoc. 11 The reading machines are new on the market. I am proud to say that our library has the first microreader that any library in the world ever possessed. 1970 Publishers' Weekly 8 June 152/1 Obviously it is not possible for people to read microfilmed material without some magnification device, hence the microreader which you can see in most libraries.

1948 Sci. News VII. 90 The Airgraph scheme.. made one advantage of such micro-records obvious to the general public. 1957 J. Burkett Microrecording in Libraries i. 8 Microrecording was first put on a business-like footing in 1928 when Eastman Kodak introduced its Recordak Division. Ibid. ii. 13 An opaque microrecord is..a positive print made from a photographic negative. 1971 Brit. Printer Jan. 80/1 Davies started on the project mainly as a result of an inquiry from the American Council for Library Resources, which was interested in obtaining a small, cheap and portable method of retrieving micro-records.

1938 G. van Iterson in Trans. 14th Conf. Fédération Internat. de Documentation I. 149 (heading) The preparation and reading of micro-reproductions of treatises. 1958 Engineering 4 Apr. 443/3 To this [sc. the decrease in library accommodation] there is one reasonable solution and that is micro-reproduction.

1944 F. Rider Scholar & Future of Research Library ii. i. 99 Why might we not combine the micro-texts of our books, and the catalog cards for these same books, in one single entity? Ibid. 100 A fair amount of micro-text can be put on the back of a standard-size catalog card. 1958 Times Rev. Industry Mar. 61/3 The United States has been a fertile ground for the spread of microtexts. 1973 Computers & Humanities VII. 163 Anyone who uses the subject part of an ordinary library catalog, whether in card, book, or microtext form, would benefit from this explanation.

1972 M. J. Bosse Incident at Naha iii. 153, I feel I'm turning into a library. I'll start dreaming I'm a card catalog or a microviewer.

  8. micro is now freely prefixed to ns., often resulting in trivial or nonce words; from being used as an independent word without a hyphen it passes into a quasi-adj. with the meanings: a. Microscopic, minute; small-scale, small.
  The examples are arranged in chronological order.

1922 Encycl. Brit. XXX. 34/2 Micro-investigation of glued joints proved the value of carefully preparing the timber and glue. 1926 R. W. Lawson tr. Hevesy & Paneth's Man. Radioactivity i. 2 Very small quantities of two different gases..gradually accumulate within the tube, and can be detected by the methods of micro-gas analysis. 1931 Boys' Mag. XLV. 157/1 Any good crystal detector will do. One with fine or micro adjustment is to be preferred. 1935 Discovery Nov. 320/1 Whenever it finds a patch of..dry, dusty ground, there it arrives... Such patches, for the purposes of that Acrotylus, are deserts. They are, in fact, micro-deserts. 1946 Koestler Thieves in Night 279 Pen-holders of olivewood with a tiny inlaid lens through which one could see a micro-panorama of Jerusalem. 1958 Spectator 15 Aug. 236/2 Micro, corneal and contact lenses. 1967 G. Wills in Wills & Yearsley Handbk. Managem. Technol. x. 176 At the macro level, marketing management became concerned with understanding its social environment; at the micro level, the concept of the marketing mix postulated a co-ordinative and integrative activity for product distribution and communication. 1969 Jane's Freight Containers 1968–69 552/2 Ten models of these 1-ton micro-fork lift trucks are available for loading and unloading containers. 1970 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 26 Sept. 9/5 More attention will be given to the ubiquitous ‘micro’ problems in non-sugar sectors of the [Cuban] economy. 1973 Physics Bull. Oct. 626/1 Finally, going lower than micro, we might mention the HP-45, Hewlett-Packard's new pocket ‘scientific’ calculator, said to be the most powerful of its size and price. 1974 Sci. Amer. July 134/2 A computer patiently runs the long repetitive scans looking for tiny needles in microhaystacks.

  b. Chem. Of or pertaining to microanalysis. Cf. micromethod in 6, micro-scale.

1931 J. W. Brown in C. A. Mitchell Recent Adv. Analytical Chem. II. xv. 306 The work of Emich inspired Fritz Pregl..to attempt to carry out organic determinations on a micro scale. 1937 Ann. Rev. Biochem. VI. 85 While many important studies have been made on reducing sugars in recent years, most of these have not involved the use of methods which are strictly micro. 1946 Belcher & Wilson Qualitative Inorg. Microanalysis i. 1 Micro methods handle solid samples over the range of 0·1 to 1 mg., and volumes of solution ranging from 0·02 to 0·2 ml. 1955 C. R. N. Strouts et al. Analytical Chem. I. xiv. 314 The economy of time afforded by many micro procedures favours their adoption even when the amount of sample available is sufficient for macroanalysis. 1971 Nature 19 Mar. 194/2 Any laboratory where the analysis of metals is practised at macro, micro or trace levels. 1974 Encycl. Brit. Macropædia IV. 79/2 Samples..can be classified as macro (10-1 g), semi-micro (10-1 - 10-3 g), micro (10-3 - 10-6 g), sub-micro (10-6 - 10-8 g), nanogram (10-9 g), or picogram (10-12 g).

  
  
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   Add: [1.] [a.] microcar.

1980 N.Y. Times 3 Oct. c35/1 The opening show looks at *microcars, which just might relieve urban traffic congestion. 1991 Economist 14 Sept. 98/1 Japan's unique micro-car market (with engines under 660cc) is one of the most cut-throat in the car business.

  ˈmicrofilament n., a very fine filament; spec. in Cytol., any of the rodlike structures, about 4–7 nanometres in diameter, that are present in the cytoplasm of many eukaryotic cells and are thought to have a structural function and to be involved with cell motility.

1965 Jrnl. Cell Biol. XXVII. 39a/2 *Microfilaments are more prominent in non-motile pinocytosing cells. 1970 New Scientist 30 Apr. 228/3 Microfilaments have been made in a wide variety of metals, alloys, silicides, borides, oxides and mixed oxides. 1974 D. & M. Webster Compar. Vertebr. Morphol. ix. 182 The axon contains microtubules, microfilaments, and a few mitochondria. 1984 Holtzman & Novikoff Cells & Organelles (ed. 3) ii. xi. 282 The term microfilament, originally used for many types of cytoplasmic filament, has increasingly come to be used solely for the 5- to 6-nm actin filaments.

  hence ˌmicrofilaˈmentous a.

1970 Diabetologia VI. 638/2 The beta cell of the islets of Langerhans has been shown to contain a microtubular-*microfilamentous system. 1975 New Scientist 5 June 553/2 But if the actin and myosin of the microfilamentous system interacted with each other while floating just under the membrane, they could hardly be expected to affect the cell's shape, let alone motility. 1989 Microbial Pathogenesis VII. 330 This inhibition was not associated with a blockage of local microfilamentous refoldings previously shown to be associated with the internalization of Shigella by epithelial cells.

  ˈmicrophyll n. Bot. [ad. Da. mikrofyl (C. Raunkiaer 1917, in Bot. Tidsskr. XXXIV. 229), f. Gr. ϕύλλ-ον leaf], a type of leaf, characteristic of the clubmosses, which is usu. short and whose vascular system is rudimentary; opp. megaphyll n. s.v. *mega- a.

1932 Proc. Linn. Soc. CXLV. 26 In most cases there is an early differentiation between..the simple *microphylls and the branch systems or ‘telomes’ which later evolved into the megaphylls of the higher plants. 1957 Ann. Bot. XXI. 434 In the manner of their inception, there is no essential difference between microphylls and macrophylls though very marked differences become evident during their further development. 1983 E. C. Minkoff Evolutionary Biol. xxvi. 451/1 Microphylls are typically small and simple, but some extinct lycopods had unusually large microphylls.

  microvillus n.: hence microˈvillar a., pertaining to or consisting of microvilli; also microˈvillous a., characterized by or consisting of microvilli.

1966 Jrnl. Clin. Investigation XLV. 1001/2 (heading) Intrinsic factor-mediated attachment of Vitamin B12 to brush borders and *microvillous membranes. 1968 Zeitschr. für Zellforschung LXXXV. 253 The photoreceptors are of the *microvillar type, yet show some traces of an original cilium. 1975 Nature 10 Apr. 522/1 Each photoreceptor or retinula cell gives rise to a microvillar fringe, called the rhabdomere, which consists of parallel tubules containing light-absorbing visual pigments. 1976 Lancet 18 Dec. 1319/2 These [abnormalities] included microvillous changes, increase in theliolymphocytes and epithelial lysosomes, [etc.]. 1984 Holtzman & Novikoff Cells & Organelles (ed. 3) iii. viii. 451 In numerous species, at dusk the microvillar system undergoes expansion through addition of membrane. 1990 Jrnl. Developmental Physiol. XIV. 50/1 Microvillous membrane vesicles were isolated from 5 min-preperfused blood-free placentas.

  [b.] ˈmicropropaˌgation n., (a technique for) the propagation of plants by growing plantlets in tissue culture and then planting them out.

1973 H. E. Street Plant Tissue & Cell Culture xv. 424 It is this capacity of cell, callus and meristem cultures to regenerate whole plants that has been exploited to obtain virus-free stocks of a number of horticultural plants..and to effect the *micropropagation of orchids and some ornamentals and vegetables. 1977 Jrnl. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. CII. 48/1 Shoot tip culture, a form of micropropagation, has been used successfully to produce pathogen-free plants. 1986 Forestry LIX. 169 Work currently in progress..is examining the possibility of introducing an initial micropropagation stage into the rooted cutting system developed for Sitka spruce. 1991 Independent 5 Jan. 41/4 Dr Wilde's answer was to persuade York University to clone one million plants in 12 months through micropropagation.

  hence (as a back-formation) microˈpropagate v. trans., to propagate by means of micropropagation; microˈpropagated ppl. a.

1977 Jrnl. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. CII. 53/2 A real difference in mutation rates between conventionally propagated and *micropropagated carnation plants was not proven. 1979 Farm & Food Res. X. 75/3 (heading) Some plants that have been successfully *micropropagated. 1991 Gardener Jan. 6/2 The kit consists of..three houseplants, all of which are micropropagated and supplied growing in a special gel. 1992 Guardian 12 May 33/1 (Advt.), The project will investigate the potential of V-A mycorrhizal fungi for crop-protection of micropropagated strawberry plants.

  microsimuˈlation n. Econ., (a method for producing) a statistical model of microeconomic activity, esp. based on detailed demographic profiles of individuals, businesses, etc.

1966 Public Health Service Publ. (U.S. Dept. Health) No. 1000 (Ser. 2, No. 13) (title) Computer simulation of hospital discharges; micro-simulation of measurement errors in hospital discharge data reported in the Health Interview Survey. 1972 Times 8 Sept. 21/5 Papers on the socioeconomic *microsimulation of the United States household sector. 1989 Surv. Current Business Mar. 62/1 These data have been used in microsimulation models to provide us with increasingly detailed insights into the effects of government policy changes on economic behavior.

  [2.] [a.] micro-engiˈneering n., engineering on a very small scale, esp. combined with microelectronics.

1967 Punch 4 Jan. 1/2 We live in an age of computers, *micro-engineering and microelectronics and it is becoming a positive disadvantage to have large limbs and digits. 1981 Business Week 6 July 49/3 To shrink the circuitry on a chip to that degree will demand prodigious feats of micro-engineering. 1988 Nuclear News 1 Apr. 61 The company's involvement in atomic technologies, including fusion energy, nuclear reactors and reactor fuel, microengineering of advanced materials, [etc.].

  [4.] microˈnodular a. Med., characterized by the presence of small nodules; chiefly in micronodular cirrhosis; cf. macronodular s.v. *macro- 1 d.

1960 Amer. Jrnl. Path. XXXVI. 248 (heading) Nutritional cirrhosis (alcoholic, fatty, *micronodular, Laennec's cirrhosis). 1976 Edington & Gilles Path. in Tropics (ed. 2) xi. 542 The terms portal and postnecrotic would probably be better expressed morphologically as micronodular and macronodular respectively. 1985 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 14 Sept. 708/1 Various liver diagnoses were entered, including cirrhosis, micronodular cirrhosis, and nutritional cirrhosis.

  [5.] [a.] micro-amp.

1960 Practical Wireless XXXVI. pii/1 (Advt.), Complete with 15 valves, 500 *microamp check and tuning meter, circuit and instruction book. 1971 Nature 3 Dec. 243/1 A beam of several hundred microamps of electrons. 1991 G. H. Tomlinson Electr. Networks & Filters 213 The requirement for input bias current, which is in the range of picoamps to microamps, depending upon the device type, imposes a restriction on the choice of RC impedances for the forward and feedback paths.

  [6.] microsensor.

1962 F. I. Ordway et al. Basic Astronautics xii. 486 Basically each *microsensor is a small transmitter. 1984 Chem. Engin. News 4 June 8/2 Wohltjen classifies all microsensors into two categories. 1993 Independent on Sunday 15 Aug. (Business section) 26/4 In the future MEMMS are expected to be used, for example, as toxic gas sensors that fit on to workers' belts, and medical micro-sensors and micro-tools.

  [8.] c. Econ. = microeconomic adj. s.v. microeconomics n. pl.

[1946 Econometrica XIV. 94 Let us assume the theory of micro- and of macroeconomics and then construct aggregates..which are consistent with the two theories.] 1961 G. Ackley Macroecon. Theory xx. 572 Had the micro slopes been identical, the changing distribution of profits would have made no difference. 1965 Seldon & Pennance Everyman's Dict. Econ. 282 Income concepts are not ignored in micro-theory. 1970 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 26 Sept. 9/5 More attention will be given to the ubiquitous ‘micro’ problems in non-sugar sectors of the [Cuban] economy. 1974 Times Lit. Suppl. 8 Mar. 242/5 The forms and methods of economic management, both micro and macro. 1984 Nat. Westm. Bank Q. Rev. Feb. 42 These policies amounted to a straightforward Keynesian expansion with some minor additions of a more micro nature such as the shortening of the working week. 1992 Unesco Courier Mar. 41/2 Linking the experience of women at the level of their daily lives (the micro level) to economic trends and their global environmental impacts (the macro level).

  
  
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   ▸ microgreens n. orig. U.S. young, small shoots of celery, rocket, lettuce, etc., used to make salads and other dishes.

1997 PR Newswire (Nexis) 5 Sept. Chestnut Springs Farm is a 100-acre organic farm with seven hothouses devoted to baby and *micro greens, edible flowers, herbs, heirloom vegetables and more. 1999 N.Y. Mag. 8 Nov. 115 A salad of chanterelles, morels, and hens-of-the-woods with toasted hazelnuts, microgreens, and white-truffle oil. 2006 Time Out N.Y. 8 June 37/1 A precarious tower of shaved, tender meat and microgreens on a toasted rye round with onion marmalade.

Oxford English Dictionary