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lamella

[ luh-mel-uh ]
/ ləˈmɛl ə /
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noun, plural la·mel·lae [luh-mel-ee], /ləˈmɛl i/, la·mel·las.
a thin plate, scale, membrane, or layer, as of bone, tissue, or cell walls.
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.
Mycology. gill1 (def. 2).
Building Trades. a member of wood, metal, or reinforced concrete, joined in a crisscross pattern with other lamellae to form a vault.
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 lāminalame2
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use lamella in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for lamella

lamella
/ (ləˈmɛlə) /

noun plural -lae (-liː) or -las
a thin layer, plate, or membrane, esp any of the calcified layers of which bone is formed
botany
  1. any of the spore-bearing gills of a mushroom
  2. any of the membranes in a chloroplast
  3. Also called: middle lamella a layer of pectin cementing together adjacent cells
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
any thin sheet of material or thin layer in a fluid

Derived forms of lamella

Word Origin for lamella

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
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