spicula

American  

[spik-yuh-luh] / ˈspɪk yə lə /

noun

plural

spiculae

1. a spicule.

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Etymology

Origin of spicula

1740–50; < New Latin spīcula, Medieval Latin, equivalent to Latin spīc ( a ) ear of grain + -ula -ule

Example Sentences

His varied and solid knowledge makes his style lustrous with points and shooting spicula of thought, and resembling one of those winter mornings when the air sparkles with crystals.

From Representative Men by Emerson, Ralph Waldo

In some cases I have found spicula projecting from the inner plate of the skull, and pressing upon or even penetrating the dura mater.

From The Dog by Youatt, William

Introducing the alum-cell, and placing the coating of hoar-frost at the intensely luminous focus of the electric lamp, not a spicula of the dazzling frost is melted.

From Six Lectures on Light Delivered In The United States In 1872-1873 by Tyndall, John

The failures they experienced, even their humble successes, were met with sneers and laughter; till at last Hermose held up aloft a little spicula of gold about the thickness of a pencil.

From Confessions Of Con Cregan An Irish Gil Blas by Lever, Charles James

The last fact, trivial as it appears, assumes immense importance when we learn that to these spicula we must turn for an explanation of the isolated masses of flint which abound in various chalk formations.

From Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 1, No. 3, August, 1850. by Various