cell wall

[ sel wawl ]

noun

, Biology.

1. the definite boundary or wall that is part of the outer structure of certain cells, as a plant cell.

cell wall

noun

1. the outer layer of a cell, esp the structure in plant cells that consists of cellulose, lignin, etc, and gives mechanical support to the cell

cell wall

1. The outermost layer of cells in plants, bacteria, fungi, and many algae that gives shape to the cell and protects it from infection. In plants, the cell wall is made up mostly of cellulose, determines tissue texture, and often is crucial to cell function.
2. Compare cell membrane

cell wall

1. The rigid outer covering of a typical plant cell , composed mainly of cellulose and lying outside the cell membrane . Animal cells do not have cell walls.

Notes

It is the cell walls that give plant stems and wood their stiffness.

Word History and Origins

Origin of cell wall¹

First recorded in 1840–50

Example Sentences

“So there’s definitely holes in the cell wall that would allow the plastids to move through,” Hertle said.

From Quanta Magazine

This posed a conundrum, because plant cells seal themselves inside a protective cell wall that offers no obvious way for so much DNA to get in.

From Quanta Magazine

The large openings that form in the cell walls also seem to be part of the plant’s emergency healing response to the wound at the graft site, but they may occur during some stage of normal plant development as well, Maliga says.

From Quanta Magazine

Damaging the cell walls of a garlic clove triggers the release of an odurless sulphur compound called alliin.

From Popular-Science

It was made of polyester and cellulose, a tough material that forms cell walls in plants.

From Science News For Students

In my cell, as in the others, there was a narrow iron cot, which could be folded and propped up to the cell wall.

From Project Gutenberg

Parachromophorous Bacteria: in which the pigment is stored in the cell wall of the organism.

From Project Gutenberg

A thin cell-wall encloses the granular protoplasm, in which vacuoles and sometimes a nucleus may be noted.

From Project Gutenberg

Here the conjugating cells swim free in water; they have no cell-wall, and move actively by cilia.

From Project Gutenberg

Two contiguous cells of two parallel filaments push each a little projection from its cell-wall toward the other.

From Project Gutenberg