protoplast
[proh-tuh-plast]
noun
Biology.
- the contents of a cell within the cell membrane, considered as a fundamental entity.
- the primordial living unit or cell.
a person or thing that is formed first; original; prototype.
the hypothetical first individual or one of the supposed first pair of a species or the like.
Origin of protoplast
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Related Words for protoplast
precursor, type, creation, novelty, father, forerunner, invention, exemplar, pattern, master, model, prototype, archetype, precedent, paradigm, coinageExamples from the Web for protoplast
Historical Examples of protoplast
He furrowed his protoplast brow that looked as youthful as it had a century ago.
Man MadeAlbert R. Teichner
I came out of the chamber all protoplast except for the spinal zone.
Man MadeAlbert R. Teichner
For this, the simplest form of the protoplast community is a single pair.
OpusculaRobert Gordon Latham
Verse cxxiv., protoplast, the original, the thing first formed.
The Browning CyclopdiaEdward Berdoe
Fortunately the time was already past when protoplast patients were looked upon as something mildly freakish and to be pitied.
Man MadeAlbert R. Teichner
protoplast
noun
Word Origin for protoplast
C16: from Late Latin prōtoplastus the first-formed, from Greek prōtoplastos, from proto- + plassein to shape
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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protoplast
[prō′tə-plăst′]
n.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.