Lichen
['laɪk(ə)n;'lɪtʃ(ə)n] or ['laɪkən]
Definition
(noun.) any thallophytic plant of the division Lichenes; occur as crusty patches or bushy growths on tree trunks or rocks or bare ground etc..
(noun.) any of several eruptive skin diseases characterized by hard thick lesions grouped together and resembling lichens growing on rocks.
Editor: Tess--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) One of a class of cellular, flowerless plants, (technically called Lichenes), having no distinction of leaf and stem, usually of scaly, expanded, frond-like forms, but sometimes erect or pendulous and variously branched. They derive their nourishment from the air, and generate by means of spores. The species are very widely distributed, and form irregular spots or patches, usually of a greenish or yellowish color, upon rocks, trees, and various bodies, to which they adhere with great tenacity. They are often improperly called rock moss or tree moss.
(n.) A name given to several varieties of skin disease, esp. to one characterized by the eruption of small, conical or flat, reddish pimples, which, if unchecked, tend to spread and produce great and even fatal exhaustion.
Editor: Solomon
Definition
n. one of an order of cellular flowerless plants: an eruption on the skin.—adjs. Lī′chened covered with lichens; Lichen′ic pertaining to lichens; Lī′cheniform.—ns. Lī′chenine a starch-like substance found in Iceland moss and other lichens; Lī′chenist Lichenog′rapher one versed in Lichenog′raphy the description of lichens.—adjs. Lichenograph′ic -al.—n. Lichenol′ogy the department of botany relating to lichens.—adj. Lī′chenous abounding in or pertaining to lichens.
Checked by Dolores
Examples
- The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, thrown out on each side. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- It was the united products of infinitesimal vegetable causes, and these were neither stems, leaves, fruit, blades, prickles, lichen, nor moss. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- It clings to the mind, when it has once seized on it, like a lichen on the rock. Mary Shelley. Frankenstein_Or_The Modern Prometheus.
- The sitting-room of our client opened by a long, low, latticed window on to the ancient lichen-tinted court of the old college. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- It was a widespread, comfortable-looking building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches of lichen upon the grey walls. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
Edited by Ivan