gland Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun any of various organs that synthesize substances needed by the body and release it through ducts or directly into the bloodstream
secretor; secreter; secretory organ.

F. glande, L. glans, glandis, acorn; akin to Gr. for , and to cast, throw, the acorn being the dropped fruit. Cf. Parable, n.

(Anat.) (a) An organ for secreting something to be used in, or eliminated from, the body; as, the sebaceous glands of the skin; the salivary glands of the mouth. (b) An organ or part which resembles a secreting, or true, gland, as the ductless, lymphatic, pineal, and pituitary glands, the functions of which are very imperfectly known. ✍ The true secreting glands are, in principle, narrow pouches of the mucous membranes, or of the integument, lined with a continuation of the epithelium, or of the epidermis, the cells of which produce the secretion from the blood. In the larger glands, the pouches are tubular, greatly elongated, and coiled, as in the sweat glands, or subdivided and branched, making compound and racemose glands, such as the pancreas.
(Bot.) (a) A special organ of plants, usually minute and globular, which often secretes some kind of resinous, gummy, or aromatic product. (b) Any very small prominence.
(Steam Mach.) The movable part of a stuffing box by which the packing is compressed; -- sometimes called a follower. See Illust. of Stuffing box, under Stuffing.
(Mach.) The crosspiece of a bayonet clutch.