diatom Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun microscopic unicellular marine or freshwater colonial alga having cell walls impregnated with silica

Gr. cut in two. See Diatomous.

(Bot.) One of the Diatomaceæ, a family of minute unicellular Algæ having a siliceous covering of great delicacy, each individual multiplying by spontaneous division. By some authors diatoms are called Bacillariæ, but this word is not in general use.
A particle or atom endowed with the vital principle.
The individual is nothing. He is no more than the diatom, the bit of protoplasm. Mrs. E. Lynn Linton.