‖ areola
(əˈriːələ)
Pl. areolæ.
[L., dim. of ārea.]
A very small area.
1. One of the small spaces marked out on a surface by intersecting lines, such as those between the veins of a leaf or the nervures of an insect's wing.
| 1664 Power Exp. Philos. i. 49 Pentagonal and hexagonal areola's [on Corn Poppy seeds]. 1830 Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 313 A cluster of sporule-like areolæ of cellular tissue. |
2. One of the interstices in the tissue of any organized substance.
| 1848 Quain Elem. Anat. (1882) II. 107 The cell spaces in the calcified matrix [of bone]..being termed the primary areolæ. 1874 Van Buren Dis. Urin. Org. 2 The areolæ of this tissue become distended with blood. |
3. A circular spot; a coloured circle such as that around the human nipple, and that which surrounds the vesicles or pustules in eruptive diseases.
| 1706 Phillips, Areola Papillaris, the Circle about a Nipple. 1852 W. Grove Contrib. Sc. 365 Surrounded by a dusky and ill-defined areola. 1877 Roberts Handbk. Med. I. 164 A faint red areola appears. |
4. Biol. a. A slightly depressed spot on any surface. b. The cell-nucleus of a plant.
| 1862 Darwin Orchids v. 206 With a faint areola or nucleus visible. 1872 Nicholson Palæont. 105 A round or oval smooth and excavated space which is termed the areola. |