spicule
English
Etymology
Noun
spicule (plural spicules)
- A sharp, needle-like piece.
- A tiny glass flake formed during the manufacture of glass vials
- (biology) Any of many needle-like crystalline structures that provide skeletal support in marine invertebrates like sponges.
- 1860, Recreative Science (page 110)
- Tear it up, and put a fragment under the microscope, and, wonder of wonders! see the maze of geometric forms exhibited in the bones of the creature; for who can help regarding the spicules as bones, even though a sponge be invertebrate?
- 1860, Recreative Science (page 110)
- A needle-like mating structure found only in male nematodes.
- (astronomy) A jet of matter ejected from the photosphere of the sun.
- A small spike of flowers.
Translations
sharp, needle-like piece
any of many needle-like crystalline structures that provide skeletal support in marine invertebrates like sponges