spicule

[spik-yool]

noun

a small or minute, slender, sharp-pointed body or part; a small, needlelike crystal, process, or the like.
Zoology. one of the small, hard, calcareous or siliceous bodies that serve as the skeletal elements of various marine and freshwater invertebrates.
Astronomy. a jet of gas several hundred miles in diameter rising from the sun's surface to heights of 3000 to 6000 miles (4800 to 9600 km).

Origin of spicule

1775–85; < Latin spīculum spearhead, arrowhead, bee stinger, equivalent to spīc(a) ear of grain (see spica) + -ulum -ule

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for spicule

Historical Examples of spicule

He had found, too, that all matter—every spicule of it—is exhausted in the relation.
The Church of St. Bunco
Gordon Clark
The shaft of the spicule is generally slender and of considerable length.
Freshwater Sponges, Hydroids & Polyzoa
Nelson Annandale
The spores soon become free, but the spicule often still adheres to them; but they are not attached to the intermingled filaments.
Fungi: Their Nature and Uses
Mordecai Cubitt Cooke
Spic′ūlum, a spicule; Spike′bill, a merganser, a sawbill: the marbled godwit.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements)
Various
The spicule thus resembles a little trumpet resting on its mouth.
Freshwater Sponges, Hydroids & Polyzoa
Nelson Annandale

British Dictionary definitions for spicule

spicule

noun

Also called: spiculum a small slender pointed structure or crystal, esp any of the calcareous or siliceous elements of the skeleton of sponges, corals, etc
astronomy a spiked ejection of hot gas occurring over 5000 kilometres above the sun's surface (in its atmosphere) and having a diameter of about 1000 kilometres

Derived Formsspiculate (ˈspɪkjʊˌleɪt, -lɪt), adjective

Word Origin for spicule

C18: from Latin: spiculum

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

Word Origin and History for spicule

1785, from French spicule, from diminutive of Latin spica (see spike (n.1)).

spicule in Medicine

spicule

[spĭk′yōōl]

n. pl. spic•ules

A needlelike structure or part.

Related formsspic′u•lar (-yə-lər) null adj.

spicule in Science

spicule

[spĭk′yōōl]

A needlelike structure or part, such as one of the mineral structures supporting the soft tissue of certain invertebrates, especially sponges.
Any of numerous short-lived vertical jets of hot gas rising from the solar chromosphere and extending into the corona. Spicules, which only last for about five to ten minutes, are usually several hundred kilometers wide and several thousand kilometers high.