cell Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun any small compartment
- the cells of a honeycomb
noun (biology) the basic structural and functional unit of all organisms; they may exist as independent units of life (as in monads) or may form colonies or tissues as in higher plants and animals
noun a device that delivers an electric current as the result of a chemical reaction
electric cell.
noun a small unit serving as part of or as the nucleus of a larger political movement
cadre.
noun a hand-held mobile radiotelephone for use in an area divided into small sections, each with its own short-range transmitter/receiver
cellular phone; mobile phone; cellular telephone; cellphone.
noun small room in which a monk or nun lives
cubicle.
noun a room where a prisoner is kept
prison cell; jail cell.

OF. celle, fr. L. cella; akin to celare to hide, and E. hell, helm, conceal. Cf. Hall.

A very small and close apartment, as in a prison or in a monastery or convent; the hut of a hermit.
The heroic confessor in his cell. Macaulay.
A small religious house attached to a monastery or convent. "Cells or dependent priories." Milman.
Any small cavity, or hollow place.
(Arch.) (a) The space between the ribs of a vaulted roof. (b) Same as Cella.
(Elec.) A jar of vessel, or a division of a compound vessel, for holding the exciting fluid of a battery.
(Biol.) One of the minute elementary structures, of which the greater part of the various tissues and organs of animals and plants are composed. ✍ All cells have their origin in the primary cell from which the organism was developed. In the lowest animal and vegetable forms, one single cell constitutes the complete individual, such being called unicelluter orgamisms. A typical cell is composed of a semifluid mass of protoplasm, more or less granular, generally containing in its center a nucleus which in turn frequently contains one or more nucleoli, the whole being surrounded by a thin membrane, the cell wall. In some cells, as in those of blood, in the amoeba, and in embryonic cells (both vegetable and animal), there is no restricting cell wall, while in some of the unicelluliar organisms the nucleus is wholly wanting. See Illust. of Bipolar.

imperfect & past participle Celled