granule
[gran-yool]
- a little grain.
- a small particle; pellet.
- a corpuscle; sporule.
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Origin of granule
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for granule
Historical Examples
When a variole, tubercle, granule, &c. has a depression in its centre.
An Introduction to Entomology: Vol. IV (of 4)William Kirby
But no power that we could employ was capable of detecting a granule in it.
In the upper portions of the glacier movement due to pressure probably takes place by the gliding of one granule over another.
The size of the individual granules is constant in any animal species for every kind of granule—excepting only the mast cells.
Histology of the BloodPaul Ehrlich
For a peripheral layer is plainly distinguishable from the central part of the granule.
Histology of the BloodPaul Ehrlich
granule
- a small grain
- geology a single rock fragment in gravel, smaller than a pebble but larger than a sand grain
- astronomy another name for granulation (def. 5)
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Word Origin
C17: from Late Latin grānulum a small grain
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for granule
n.
1650s, from French granule or directly from Late Latin granulum "small grain," diminutive of Latin granum "grain" (see corn (n.1)).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
granule
(grăn′yōōl)- A small grain or pellet; a particle.
- A cellular or cytoplasmic particle, especially one that stains readily.
- A very small pill, usually coated with gelatin or sugar.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
granule
[grăn′yōōl]
- A rock or mineral fragment larger than a sand grain and smaller than a pebble. Granules have a diameter between 2 and 4 mm (0.08 and 0.16 in) and are often rounded.
- Any of the small, transient convective cells within the Sun's photosphere where hot gases rise and quickly dissipate. Granules are generally between a few hundred and 1,500 km in width. They completely cover the Sun's surface, giving it its characteristic grainy or stippled look, and form and break up within a matter of minutes.
- An aggregate of enclosed grainy matter found in a cell. Granulocytes, mast cells and other cells contain granules in their cytoplasm, which differ in size and can often be identified by a characteristic laboratory stain based on their composition. Granules produce and store biologically active substances, the release of which is called degranulation. The granules of granulocytes contain mostly multiple enzymes and other proteins; those of mast cells contain histamine and other chemical mediators.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.