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lamella

[luh-mel-uh]
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noun, plural la·mel·lae [luh-mel-ee] /ləˈmɛl i/, la·mel·las.
  1. a thin plate, scale, membrane, or layer, as of bone, tissue, or cell walls.
  2. Botany.
    1. an erect scale or blade inserted at the junction of the claw and limb in some corollas and forming a part of their corona or crown.
    2. (in mosses) a thin sheet of cells standing up along the midrib of a leaf.
  3. Mycology. gill1(def 2).
  4. Building Trades. a member of wood, metal, or reinforced concrete, joined in a crisscross pattern with other lamellae to form a vault.
  5. Ophthalmology. a small disk of gelatin and glycerin mixed with a medicinal substance, used as a medicament for the eyes.
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Origin of lamella

1670–80; < Latin lāmella, diminutive of lāmina lame2
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for lamella

Historical Examples

  • In this way the organs developed between the two layers of the lamella obtain their final fixed position.

    The Anatomy of the Human Peritoneum and Abdominal Cavity

    George. S. Huntington

  • The head is also more or less connected by a thin plate of bone, the lamella, to another outgrowth, the processus longus.

    The Vertebrate Skeleton

    Sidney H. Reynolds

British Dictionary definitions for lamella

lamella

noun plural -lae (-liː) or -las
  1. a thin layer, plate, or membrane, esp any of the calcified layers of which bone is formed
  2. botany
    1. any of the spore-bearing gills of a mushroom
    2. any of the membranes in a chloroplast
    3. Also called: middle lamellaa layer of pectin cementing together adjacent cells
  3. one of a number of timber, metal, or concrete members connected along a pattern of intersecting diagonal lines to form a framed vaulted roof structure
  4. any thin sheet of material or thin layer in a fluid
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Derived Formslamellar, lamellate (ˈlæmɪˌleɪt, -lɪt, ləˈmɛleɪt, -lɪt) or lamellose (ləˈmɛləʊs, ˈlæmɪˌləʊs), adjectivelamellarly or lamellately, adverblamellated, adjectivelamellation, nounlamellosity (ˌlæməˈlɒsɪtɪ), noun

Word Origin

C17: New Latin, from Latin, diminutive of lāmina thin plate
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
lamella in Medicine

lamella

(lə-mĕl′ə)
n. pl. la•mel•las
  1. A thin scale, plate, or layer of bone or tissue, as around the minute vascular canals in bone.
  2. A medicated gelatin disk, used instead of a solution for application to the conjunctiva.disk
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Related formsla•mel′lar adj.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.