Protoplasm
['protəplæzəm]
Definition
(noun.) the substance of a living cell (including cytoplasm and nucleus).
Editor: Roxanne--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) The viscid and more or less granular material of vegetable and animal cells, possessed of vital properties by which the processes of nutrition, secretion, and growth go forward; the so-called " physical basis of life;" the original cell substance, cytoplasm, cytoblastema, bioplasm sarcode, etc.
Checked by Adrienne
Definition
n. living matter: a homogeneous structureless substance forming the physical basis of life endowed with contractility with a chemical composition allied to that of albumen.—adj. Protoplasm′ic.—n. Prō′toplast he who or that which was first formed: an original: the first parent.—adj. Protoplast′ic.
Inputed by Isabella
Examples
- To this substance of energy and life, common in the minute plant cell and the animal cell, the German botanist, Hugo von Mohl, about fifty years ago gave the name protoplasm. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- The big fish of the sea eat the little fish, the little fish the small fry, and these in turn live upon worms and animalcula, and so on all the way down to protoplasm. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
Checker: Sondra