phagocytosis
Physiology. the ingestion of a smaller cell or cell fragment, a microorganism, or foreign particles by means of the local infolding of a cell's membrane and the protrusion of its cytoplasm around the fold until the material has been surrounded and engulfed by closure of the membrane and formation of a vacuole: characteristic of amebas and some types of white blood cells.
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Origin of phagocytosis
1- Compare endocytosis, exocytosis, pinocytosis.
Words Nearby phagocytosis
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use phagocytosis in a sentence
They appear to be more or less specific, a separate opsonin being necessary for phagocytosis of each species of bacteria.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis | James Campbell ToddHence the names phagocyte, or devouring cell, given to the enveloping white globule, and phagocytosis to the process.
There are two conditions, under normal circumstances, in which phagocytosis plays a marked part.
Moreover, he observed a very active phagocytosis in refractory animals and the reverse in sensitive ones.
Life of Elie Metchnikoff, 1845-1916 | Olga MetchnikoffIn autumn 1883 he read his first paper on phagocytosis to a congress of physicians and naturalists at Odessa.
Life of Elie Metchnikoff, 1845-1916 | Olga Metchnikoff
British Dictionary definitions for phagocytosis
/ (ˌfæɡəsaɪˈtəʊsɪs) /
the process by which a cell, such as a white blood cell, ingests microorganisms, other cells, and foreign particles
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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