nostoc

[nos-tok]

noun

1. any freshwater, blue-green alga of the genus Nostoc, often occurring in jellylike colonies in moist places.

nostoc

/ ˈnɒstɒk /

noun

1. any cyanobacterium of the genus Nostoc, occurring in moist places as rounded colonies consisting of coiled filaments in a gelatinous substance

Word History and Origins

Origin of nostoc¹

From New Latin, dating back to 1640–50, coined by Paracelsus

Word History and Origins

Origin of nostoc¹

C17: New Latin, coined by Paracelsus

Example Sentences

Upon my replying that this phlegm is a vegetable called nostoc, I was, like St Paul, judged to be mad, and that too much learning had turned my brain.

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We are not told of nostoc, this time: it is said that the object contained numerous eggs of "some species of Chironomus, from which larvae soon emerged."

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Or we've arrived at one of the oldest of the exclusionists' conventions—or nostoc.

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In looking up the subject, myself, I have read only of greenish nostoc.

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Or that, if often reported, grayish or whitish gelatinous substance is not nostoc, and is not spawn if occurring in times unseasonable for spawn.

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