nostoc

American  

[nos-tok] / ˈnɒs tɒk /

noun

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

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nostoc British  

/ ˈnɒstɒk /

noun

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

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Etymology

Origin of nostoc

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

Example Sentences

To give completeness to "the proper explanation," it is said that Mr. Brandeis had identified the substance as "flesh-colored" nostoc.

From The Book of the Damned by Fort, Charles

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."

From The Book of the Damned by Fort, Charles

We shall have many data of gelatinous substance said to have fallen from the sky: almost always the exclusionists argue that it was only nostoc, an Alga, or, in some respects, a fungous growth.

From The Book of the Damned by Fort, Charles

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.

From Lives of Eminent Zoologists, from Aristotle to Linnæus with Introductory remarks on the Study of Natural History by MacGillivray, William

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

From The Book of the Damned by Fort, Charles