‖ moˈlecula Obs.
[mod.L.: see molecule.]
= molecule.
| 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. i. i. §16. 16 Asclepiades..supposed all the Corporeal world to be made..of Dissimilar and inconcinn Moleculæ, i.e. Atoms of different Magnitude and Figures. 1796 Burke Regic. Peace i. Wks. VIII. 191 All these particular moleculæ united, form the great mass of what is truly the body politick. 1800 tr. Lagrange's Chem. I. 14 The moleculæ, which first unite themselves to a body, adhere with much greater force than the last. |
b. In etymological sense: A small mass or aggregation.
| 1713 Cheselden Anat. iii. x. (1726) 227 In such persons as have their blood too thin, the Globuli cohere and form Moleculæ or polypuses. |