| 释义 |
▪ I. cell, n.1|sɛl|
Forms: 2 cell (pl. -as), 3–6 celle, (4–6 sell(e, 7 cel), 5– cell.
[ME. celle, a. OF. celle:—L. cella a small apartment, esp. one of several such in the same building, used e.g. for a store-closet, slave's room, prison cell; also cell of a honeycomb; in late L. also a monk's or hermit's cell. The late OE. cell pl. cellas may have been directly ad. L. cella.
The adoption of old and development of new senses in English, have proceeded along many lines, and the logical and chronological orders do not agree. Sense 2 appears to be the earliest, while 7 and 8, already used in Latin, appear comparatively late.
(Some would connect L. cella with cera wax, regarding ‘cell of a honeycomb’ as the original sense.)]
I. A small apartment, room, or dwelling.
†1. A store-closet. (In early quots. after cella of the Vulg.). Obs.
a1225Ancr. R. 152 He scheawede þe celles of his aromaz. 1382Wyclif Isa. xxxix. 2 He shewed to them the selle of spices. 1583Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. 45 [They]..carieng it into their celles, and garners at home, keep it.
2. A monastery or nunnery, generally of small size, dependent on some larger house. [A frequent med.L. sense of cella (see Du Cange).]
In the first quot. app. = ‘monastery’ in general.
a1131O.E. Chron. an. 1129 Þa priores, muneces and canonias þa wæron on ealle þa cellas on Engla land. 1297R. Glouc. (1724) 233 In þe cyty of Bangor a gret hous þer was, Þat were vnder seue cellen [v.r. vii celles]. c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 267 A monke of a celle bare him wele þat tide. c1394P. Pl. Crede 314 We maden oure celles To ben in cyties y-set to styȝtle þe people. 1534Act 26 Hen. VIII, c. 3 §8 There be diuers celles apperteining to monasteries and priories. 1651N. Bacon Contn. Hist. Disc. xvii. 147 The Norman and French Cells were in his Predecessor's time seised under this color. 1772Pennant Tours Scotl. (1774) 61 The house was once a cell to the Abby. 1868Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) II. App. 680 There was a priory of Lapley, which was a cell to Saint Remigius.
3. a. A dwelling consisting of a single chamber inhabited by a hermit or other solitary.
c1305Life St. Dunstan 60 in E.E.P. (1862) 36 A priuei smyþþe bi his celle he gan him biseo. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. Prol. 28 Ancres and Hermytes þat holdeþ hem in heore Celles. 1393Ibid. C. xviii. 7 Suche eremites..in here selles lyueden Wiþ-oute borwynge oþer beggynge bote of god one. c1440Promp. Parv. 65 Celle or stodyynge howse [1499 cell or stody hows], cella. 1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. ii. iv. 193 She shall at Frier Lawrence Cell Be shriu'd and married. a1764R. Lloyd Ode Oblivion, Thou who delightest still to dwell By some hoar and moss-grown cell. 1875H. E. Manning Mission H. Ghost vii. 186 Whose homes are more bare and empty than the cell of an anchorite.
†b. fig.
1450–1530Myrr. Our Ladye 275 Aue christi cella, Hayle celle of cryste. 1593Shakes. Lucr. 881 In thy shady cell, where none may spy him, Sits sin. 1645Waller Div. Love vi. (R.) The soul contending to that light to fly From her dark cell. 1667Milton P.L. v. 109 [Reason] retires Into her private Cell when Nature rests. 1757Gray Epitaph Mrs. Clarke, A Heart, within whose sacred cell The peaceful Virtues lov'd to dwell.
c. poet. A small and humble dwelling, a cottage. Also, a lonely nook: the den of a wild beast.
1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 11 What meaneth this Cell..at the entrance? This is syr, my Bayliffes lodging, I lay him by the Gate, that he may see who goeth in and out. 1624Quarles Sion's Sonn., See how kings' courts surmount poore shepheards' cels. 1647Herrick Thanksgiving to God, Lord, thou hast given me a cell Wherein to dwell. 1735Somerville Chase iii. 222 All the Race Carnivorous..retire Into their darksome Cells. 1810Scott Lady of L. ii. xxxvii, Like hunted stag, in mountain cell.
d. Applied in poetry to the grave (often with some notion of sense 4).
1750Gray Elegy iv, Each in his narrow cell for ever laid The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep. 1843Neale Hymns for Sick 49 Nor dreaming of the narrow cell. 1877Bryant Among Trees 49 Their last rest, Their little cells within the burial-place.
4. One of a number of small apartments in a building, serving as the dwelling of a single person:
a. in a monastery, nunnery, or the like. Formerly, also in an almshouse.
1340Ayenb. 267 Þer byeþ Monekes uor claustres and uor strayte cellen. c1394P. Pl. Crede 60 Þei..[lurken] in her selles, [And] wynnen werldliche god. 1462Hull Trinity House Rec, Paide for xliii sawne board boght for th' makyng of the Celles of th' said Trenyte House..iiijs. ijd. 1483Cath. Angl. 56 A Celle, cella, cellula, conclaue. 1522Hull Trinity House Rec., Y⊇ praisels In Agnes Brekhan's Sel prassyd by John Wyssby, etc...iiijs. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 179 b, Some aduysed her to brenne incence in her cell. 1644Hull Corporation Bks. 13 Apr., All such goodes and household stuffe as they should..use in their seuerall cells or rooms. 1663Cowley Verses & Ess. (1669) 70 The Chartreux wants the warning of a Bell To call him to the duties of his Cell. 1859Jephson Brittany xiii. 220 In passing along..I saw the cells of the sisterhood.
b. in a prison; formerly, also in a madhouse. condemned cell: a cell occupied by one who is condemned to death. In pl.: a colloq. term for imprisonment, esp. in solitary confinement as a punishment for offences against military law.
1722De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 166 The cells in Newgate. 1777J. Howard State of Pris. (1792) 213 The rooms and cells [of Old Newgate] were so close, as to be almost constant seats of disease. 1810Crabbe Borough xxiii, Here separate cells awhile in misery keep Two doom'd to suffer. 1828Carlyle Misc. (1857) I. 234 Tasso pines in the cell of a madhouse. 1884Griffiths Chron. Newgate 360 Hence there was a terrible accumulation of prisoners in the condemned cells. 1891Kipling Life's Handicap 23 You 'ave been absent without leave an' you'll go into cells for that. 1910Galsworthy Justice iii. ii, Now I'll get cells, I suppose, or seven days' bread and water. 1918W. J. Locke Rough Road xvii, At the worst they might give him cells when he recovered. 1929Galsworthy Exiled iii. i, In the Court yesterday, you give me a night cells for sleepin' out.
†5. A small private room. Obs. rare.
1340–70Alisaunder 525 Nectanabus..passed in his Paleis too a priuie sell. c1460J. Russell Bk. Nurture in Babees Bk. (1868) 128 Serue hit [ypocras] forth with wafurs bothe in chambur & celle.
6. Archit. = cella (see also 9 a).
1842–75Gwilt Archit., Gloss. Cell, in ancient architecture the part of a temple within the walls.
II. One of the compartments into which anything is divided.
7. generally. e.g. a compartment of a dove-cot or the like (so in Lat.), of a drawer or cabinet, a pigeon-hole. arch.
1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 169 For the tame Pigions..they make..certaine hollowe roomes, and celles for them. 1727Pope Art Sinking 115 Cells resembling those of cabinets for rarities.
8. One of the compartments in the comb of wax made by bees. [So L. cella.]
1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 175 b, Their Coames that they make are wrought full of holes, which holes..are their Celles..these Celles they doe all fill with Honie. 1609C. Butler Fem. Mon. (1634) 57 Ðis Com conteineth about six Cels of ðe bignes and fashion of ðe Bees Cels. 1720Watts Hymn, How doth the little busy bee, How skilfully she builds her cell, How neat she spreads the wax. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VIII. 70 The cells of the bees are perfect hexagons. 1816Kirby & Sp. Entomol. (1843) I. 368. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 106 A bee⁓keeper would cut out the cells of drones.
9. One of a number of spaces into which a surface is divided by linear partitions: spec.
a. in Archit. (see quot.)
1850Parker Gloss. Archit. (ed. 5) I. 116 The term vaulting cell is applied by Mr. Whewell to the hollow space between the principal ribs of a vaulted roof.
b. Entom. ‘The space between the nerves of the wings of insects.’
1881in Syd. Soc. Lex.
c. Math. See Peaucellier cell.
10. Electr. Originally, one of the compartments of the wooden trough of Cruickshank's voltaic battery; afterwards applied to the vessel (in Daniell's or similar batteries) containing one pair of plates of divers metals immersed in fluid. Now, usually, a simple voltaic apparatus, containing only one pair of metallic elements; when several cells are united they constitute a battery.
1828Oxf. Cycl. III. 521 The plates [in Children's battery] are.. immersed in the cells of a trough. 1848Walker Man. Electr. 329 A single cell of this battery is represented in fig. 142. It consists essentially of a copper cell A, etc. 1882Watts Dict. Chem. II. 425 In Daniell's battery, each cell consists of a copper cylinder. Ibid. 428 The two liquids in each cell being separated by a porous diaphragm.
III. An enclosed space, cavity, or sac, in organized bodies, or (transf.) in mineral products.
11. generally.
a. Applied to various larger cavities having functions, as the ventricles of the heart, the loculi of the ovary in plants, etc. (In modern scientific language seldom used.)
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. xcix. (1495) 665 The greynes of pomegarnades ben ordenyd in theyr owne selles. 1578Lyte Dodoens ii. xxiii. 174 After them certayne hollow little huskes or Celles. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 110 They [bitches] bring forth many at a time—sometime five, seven, nine, or twelve; for so many cels hath the female in her womb. 1688R. Holme Armoury ii. 85/1 The Cell is the hollow places in puds, husks, or coars..in the Fruit. 1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. s.v. Coniferous, In which Cone are many Seeds, and when they are ripe the several Cells or Partitions in the Cone gape or open, and the Seed drops out. 1751Chambers Cycl., The name is also given, by botanists, to the partitions in the husks or pods, where the seeds of plants lie. 1776Withering Bot. Arrangem. (1796) I. 320 Capsule roundish, with as many cells as there are styles. 1845Lindley Sch. Bot. i. (1858) 16 The interior of the ovary is called the cell.
b. Applied to minute cavities or interstices in the structure of any tissue, mineral substance, etc.
1819Pantologia s.v., Cellular membrane..by means of the communication of the cells of this membrane..the butchers blow up their veal. 1845Darwin Voy. Nat. xxi. (1852) 493 The central part is coarsely cellular, the cells decreasing in size towards the exterior..the outside crust of finely cellular lava. 1856Woodward Fossil Shells 39 Horizontal sections exhibit a cellular net-work, with here and there a dark cell, which is empty. 1861Hulme tr. Moquin-Tandon ii. i. 41 Cellular or areolar tissue is composed of numerous lamellæ, which by their interlacement intercept a number of open spaces termed cells.
c. cells of the brain: the imaginary cavities or compartments in that organ, formerly supposed to be the seats of particular mental faculties, or to serve as ‘pigeon-holes’ for the reception of knowledge. (More scientifically, the ventricles of the brain were called cells.) Obs. exc. fig.
1393Gower Conf. II. 176 Of a man The wit..Is in the celles of the brain. 1430Lydg. Chron. Troy i. ii, So feble was his celle retentife. 1541R. Copland Guydon's Quest. Chirurg., Howe many celles hath the brayne after his length. 1605Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. iii. §5 History..answereth to one of the cells, domiciles, or offices of the mind of man; which is that of the memory. c1720Prior (J.) The brain contains ten thousand cells, In each some active fancy dwells. 1784Cowper Task vi. 11 It [the sound] opens all the cells Where Mem'ry slept. 1834H. Miller Scenes & Leg. vii. (1857) 88 The corresponding cells of understanding and memory.
12. a. In modern Biol.: The ultimate element in organic structures; a minute portion of protoplasm, enclosed usually in a membranous investment. Often with a defining word prefixed, as blood-cell.
The history of this sense appears to begin with Grew, who observed and described the cells of plants. (See the 17–18th c. quots. that follow.) But the determination of the relation of these cells to the living organism belongs to the present century.
1672–3Grew Anat. Plants (1682) 64 The Microscope..shews that these Pores are all, in a manner, Spherical, in most Plants; and this Part an infinite Mass of little Cells or Bladders. 1751Chambers Cycl., Cells, in anatomy, are little bags, or bladders, where fluids, or other matters, are lodged; called also loculi, cellulæ, etc. 1770Sir J. Hill Constr. Timber 68 We see that cell in its true nature: it is an oval Bladder or Bleb.
1845Day tr. Simon's Anim. Chem. I. 212 The general action of the hepatic cells. 1851Carpenter Man. Phys. (ed. 2) 7 We shall hereafter see that a cell, or closed vesicle, formed of a membranous wall, and containing fluid, may be regarded as the simplest form of a living body. 1855Bain Senses & Int. i. ii. §4 The countless millions of nerve cells. 1861Hulme tr. Moquin-Tandon ii. i. 40 They are accordingly true vesicles; and on that account..the name of ‘blood cells’ is to be preferred. 1866A. Flint Princ. Med. (1880) 39 The modern conception of a cell is based, not upon its etymological significance, but upon the presence in it of living matter or protoplasm. Even formless clumps of protoplasm are sometimes called cells. 1871Tyndall Fragm. Sc. (ed. 6) II. xii. 264 The yeast-plant..is an assemblage of living cells. 1880Gray Struct. Bot. §45 These component parts..take one common name, that of Cells.
b. fig. A small group of people (occas. a single person) working within a larger organization as a nucleus of political, esp. revolutionary, activity; also, the headquarters of such a group.
1925Glasgow Herald 25 Apr. 10 They were Communists and were carrying membership cards of Communist cells. 1931Morning Post 6 Aug. 12/4 The Viennese police have discovered a Communist ‘cell’ in..a district of the city. 1937A. Huxley Ends & Means viii. 73 Ten is the number of individuals constituting a Communist cell. 1939G. B. Shaw Geneva i. 20 My butler..tells me that my footman..is a cell... A communist cell. Like a bee in a hive. Planted on me by the Communists to make their dreadful propaganda in my household! 1958L. A. G. Strong Treason in Egg v. 93 What if the thing was organised like an underground cell in war-time, when each member of the resistance knew only his own little bit of the chain of activity.
13. The cup-like cavity occupied by an individual polype in a compound polypidom, in the Zoophytes and Polyzoa. Also, a simple shell of one of the Foraminifera.
1847Carpenter Zool. §1053 This horny tube is enlarged at certain points into sheaths or cells for the protection of the Polypes; within these the individuals can retract themselves. Ibid. 1054 The cells are arranged upon the sides of these [branched stems] like the minute leaflets of mosses. 1855Kingsley Glaucus (1878) 73 Each polype cell is edged with whip-like spines. 1855Gosse Man. Marine Zool. I. 11 Lagena: Cell calcareous, single, globular, with a long external tubular neck. Ibid. 21 Sertularia: Corallum plant-like..cells vase-like..alternate, or in pairs.
IV. Applied to various hollow receptacles or containing cavities.
14. a. generally.
1727A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Ind. II. liv. 287 Wells of Fire, that continually burn in their own Cells.
†b. The brass socket in which the lenses of a microscope, etc. are mounted. Obs.
1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. s.v. Microscope, Object-Glasses..fix'd in Brass Cells ready to screw on. 1784Herschel in Phil. Trans. LXXV. 44 Unscrewing the object-glass or speculum a little in its cell.
c. Microscopy. A cavity hollowed out of, or built up upon, a glass slide, for the purpose of receiving an object for microscopical observation.
1881in Syd. Soc. Lex. 1881Carpenter Microscope v. (ed. 6) 216 Where large shallow cells with flat bottoms are required (as for mounting Zoophytes, small Medusæ, etc.).
V.
15. attrib. and Comb. a. (in senses 3, 4) as cell-gallery, cell-grating; cell-bred adj.; b. (in sense 12), as cell-action, cell-aggregate, cell-body, cell-cavity, cell-cleavage, cell-division, cell-evolution, cell-fibre, cell-form, cell-formation, cell-fusion, cell-genesis, cell-germ, cell-growth, cell-life, cell-mass, cell-membrane, cell-multiplication, cell-nucleus, cell-pigment, cell-plate, cell-proliferation, cell-sap, cell-stage, cell-substance, cell-wall; cell-free adj.; cell-count, a count or estimate of the number of cells in a given amount of blood, etc.; cell-layer = germinal layer; cell line, a population of cells in vitro which are descended through one or more sub-cultures from a single primary culture; also, a group of cells in vivo which share a common characteristic because of a common descent; cell-lineage, the stages in the development of a cell or blastomere; cell-spot, a spot of colour occurring in the spaces between the nerves in the wings of certain lepidopterous insects; cell strain, a population of cells sharing some common characteristic that persists to a greater or lesser extent when they are propagated in cultures.
1847–9Todd Cycl. Anat. IV. 101/2 *Cell-action then must have some influence as the cause of the chemical changes.
1878Bell tr. Gegenbauer's Comp. Anat. 16 A subordinate part of the *cell-body.
1728Pope Dunciad ii. 356 A low-born, *cell-bred, selfish, servile band.
1847–9Todd Cycl. Anat. IV. 442/1 Between the cell-wall and the *cell-cavity.
1910J. Turner in Jrnl. Mental Sci. LVI. 487 The value of a *cell-count for diagnostic purposes. 1962Lancet 5 May 929/1 The cell-count reached 2000 cocci per ml.
1882Vines Sachs' Bot. 762 The fresh formation of parts connected with *cell-division is in general independent of light.
Ibid. 16 This mode of *cell-formation consists almost invariably in the bipartition of a mother-cell.
1872Aitken Sc. & Pract. Med. (ed. 6) II. 1054 Other *cell-forms occur in the urine.
1946*Cell-free [see antibiotic a. 2]. 1967Listener 3 Aug. 142/3 The solution of the genetic code has come mainly from biochemical studies of protein synthesis in cell-free extracts.
1791Bentham Panopt. i. 17 Postsc., The *Cell-Galleries are..perfectly commanded by every station in the Inspection-part.
Ibid. 55 Postsc., The other [party] immediately within the *Cell-grating.
1859Todd Cycl. Anat. V. 9/1 Minute cells are formed..which may be called reproductive *cell-germs.
1893Tuckey Hatschek's Amphioxus 55 All changes from the blastula onwards can be traced to these primitive *cell-layers.
1951Trans. N.Y. Acad. Sci. XIII. 324/2 A study of the virus of equine encephalomyelitis on different normal and tumor *cell lines. 1961M. Hynes Med. Bacteriol. (ed. 7) xxv. 379 Cell lines such as the HeLa strain are generally used for routine culture and antibody titration. 1961Lancet 19 Aug. 435/2 If these cells are XXY then the presence of such abnormal cell lines is presumably restricted to a few tissues.
1892E. B. Wilson in Jrnl. Morphology VI. 361 The *cell-lineage of Nereis. 1911J. A. Thomson Biol. of Seasons ii. 182 The primordium..is continuous through unspecialised cell-lineage with the fertilised egg from which the parent arose. 1946Nature 5 Oct. 461/2 Tissue culture made it possible to prove that the cell-lineages of the ordinary somatic cells of the body are indefinite or indeterminate.
1870Bentley Bot. 19 The *cell-membrane of young cells is very thin.
1835Lindley Introd. Bot. (1848) I. 34 *Cell-nuclei occur in all classes and orders of plants.
1847–9Todd Cycl. Anat. IV. 117/1 The only true black *cell-pigment.
1882Vines Sachs' Bot. 18 A row of granules now makes its appearance..this is the *cell-plate.
1877Roberts Handbk. Med. (ed. 3) I. 45 The first tendency is to the active production of cells,—*cell-proliferation or germination as it is termed.
1902Proc. Zool. Soc. I. 49 The black *cell-spots on the primaries.
1936Amer. Jrnl. Cancer XXVII. 69 Although the diagnoses were different, the *cell strains established from D.Au., H.Da. and A.Ha. I and II were strikingly similar in cytological appearance and cultural behavior. 1958Jrnl. Immunol. LXXXI. 426/1 Advances in tissue culture techniques have made available numerous stable cell strains..which have contributed to recent developments in virology.
1847–9Todd Cycl. Anat. IV. 102/1 The *cell-wall must be the seat of endosmosis and exosmosis. 1882Vines Sachs' Bot. 3 Older wood and cork thus consist of a mere framework of cell-walls.
Add:[II.] [9.] d. Each of a number of identical volumes into which space or a crystal is notionally divided; spec. = unit cell s.v. unit n. (and a.) 3 c, primitive cell s.v. primitive a. 5 b.
1903H. Hilton Math. Crystallogr. xxiv. 241 We will now show how to fill up space with a series of cells each of which contains one point and one only of any equivalent system. 1910A. E. H. Tutton Crystalline Struct. & Chem. Constitution xvi. 198 We have learnt how to determine the relative dimensions of the unit of the crystal structure, the molecular cell. 1915W. H. & W. L. Bragg X-Rays & Crystal Structure v. 52 Space is divided into parellelepiped cells by three sets of parallel planes. Ibid. vii. 111 Whatever class of symmetry the crystal belongs to, this enables us to measure up an elementary cell of its structure. 1931[see primitive a. 5 b]. 1931R. W. G. Wyckoff Struct. Crystals (ed. 2) ix. 183 It is possible to choose as correct the simplest cell which accounts for all of the observed X-ray reflections and contains an integral number of chemical molecules. 1966C. R. Tottle Sci. Engin. Materials iii. 50 Atoms in a simple cubic cell occupy 52{pcnt} of the available space, those in the diamond structure 34{pcnt}. 1987Jrnl. Appl. Crystallogr. XX. 343/1 The method has been used successfully for crystals with cell dimensions greater than 300 Å.
e. A region of fluid that can be treated as a unit as regards its circulation; esp. = convection cell s.v. *convection n. 1 b. [tr. F. cellule (H. Bénard 1900, in Rev. gén. des Sci. XI. 1266/1)].
1916Phil. Mag. XXXII. 529 The layer rapidly resolves itself into a number of cells, the motion being an ascension in the middle of a cell and a descension at the common boundary between a cell and its neighbours. 1940Proc. R. Soc. A. CLXXVI. 313 A surface of symmetry between adjacent cells of a ‘convection pattern’. 1955Sci. Amer. Sept. 117/1 These cells in the classic model are supposed to be responsible for the tropical easterlies (trade winds), the middle-latitude westerlies and the polar easterlies. 1968Nature 9 Nov. 553/1 In simple thermal (Bénard) convection, in which a layer of viscous fluid is heated from below, material heated near the bottom of the layer rises up the centre of hexagonal cells and moves radially across the top of the cell while cooling and then sinks at the junctions of adjoining cells. 1980D. Cameron Ballooning Handbk. ii. 36 Such clouds often generate areas which are deceptively calm, but contain ‘cells’ of convection. 1984A. C. & A. Duxbury Introd. World's Oceans vii. 212 The vertical air movements in such a cell are caused by changes in the air's density.
f. Each of the locations in a statistical table or tabular display which may be occupied by a single datum, statistic, etc.; more generally, any location in a matrix-like diagram.
1923R. Pearl Introd. Med. Biometry & Statistics iv. 78 There are 8 x 12 = 96 elemental cells in this table. 1946Brit. Jrnl. Psychol. Jan. 66 Figures were..worked out to make a fourfold contingency table... The first cell of each table contained the number of cases in which the prayer..was regarded as familiar. 1966Rep. Comm. Inquiry Univ. Oxf. II. 416 Where cells in these and other breakdowns would contain only one individual, he has been transferred to the most closely comparable cell. 1972Sci. Amer. May 115/1 It is easy to prove that nine kings, eight bishops or eight rooks are needed to attack all vacant cells on a standard chessboard. 1985Practical Computing Dec. 81/2 You can write free text into any spreadsheet cell, and it will be displayed over existing columns unless they already have their own contents.
g. Computing. An identifiable or addressable unit of memory or data storage; esp. one with a capacity of one bit or one word.
1951Proc. IRE XXXIX. 272/1 Binary cell, an information-storing element which can have one or the other of two stable states. 1952Proc. Conf. Automatic Computing Machines, Sydney 166 Recording positions or ‘cells’ on the tracks are defined by the intervals of the clock track and..are ideally discrete... A ‘1’ may be recorded in any cell by the application of a positive current pulse to the head at the appropriate instant. 1953Proc. IRE XLI. 1438/1 The surface area of the drum is divided into cells, which are grouped into tracks and slots. A cell is the area assigned to a single bit of information. 1960M. G. Say et al. Analogue & Digital Computers viii. 215 The most important feature of a store in a digital computer is..the mechanism by which a particular digit cell may be selected in order to record a new digit or to read the existing one. 1970O. Dopping Computers & Data Processing x. 133 A computer memory with addressable cells or positions is analogous to a mail sorter with pigeon-holes.
[IV.] [14.] d. A container specially made to hold a sample, usu. of fluid, while it is investigated or tested.
1863Phil. Trans. R. Soc. CLII. 607, I sometimes employ a small cell with parallel faces of quartz, sometimes a wedge-shaped vessel... The cell being filled with the solvent, a minute quantity of the substance is introduced, and the progress of the absorption is watched as the substance gradually dissolves. 1900Rep. Brit. Assoc. Adv. Sci. 158 A 10 per cent. solution of carbamide in a cell 15 mm. in thickness transmits all rays to λ 2140. 1935Jrnl. Optical Soc. Amer. XXV. 355/1 We..constructed a cell seventy feet in length from stainless steel tubing. 1973Williams & Fleming Spectrosc. Methods Org. Chem. (ed. 2) i. 2 A matched cell containing pure solvent is also prepared, and each cell is placed in the appropriate place in the spectrometer. 1987Nature 3 Sept. 32/1 The expectation that flow in Hele–Shaw cells (two parallel glass plates with a small separation) exhibits the same properties as in real porous media is based on Darcy's law.
Add:[II.] [9.] h. The local area covered by one of the short-range radio stations in a cellular telephone system.
1977Wireless World June 40/1 The cellular system uses a number of low power stations, each covering a limited area. ‘The area to be covered is divided into a number of cells, each cell having at its centre a fixed transmitter receiver installation, usually but not necessarily having a multichannel capability.’ 1984Miami Herald 27 Mar. 9d/2 (Advt.), Conversations are automatically switched from one cell to the next. 1988Independent 23 Aug. 21 Cellular radio gets its name from the structure of the network—calls are made in one area or ‘cell’ through the cell's base station into the public network.
▸ cellmate n. a person with whom a cell (in later use, a prison cell) is shared.
1728G. Carleton Mem. Eng. Officer 326 He had a hole Brother of the same Order, that was his *Cell-mate, or Chamber-fellow. 1850G. Thompson Prison Life & Refl. iii. ix. 331 At night, he was locked in his cell with his sickly cell-mate, without any light, where he frequently had fits! 1942P. G. Wodehouse Let. 11 May in Yours, Plum (1990) iii. 90 When I was in Loos Prison the first week, a dozen of us were released because they were sixty, including my cellmate William Cartmell. 2003N.Y. Times Bk. Rev. 22 Apr. 12/2 At the Pelican Bay State Prison..inmates are kept inside their tiny cells 22½ hours a day. Most have cellmates, but one-third are kept alone.
▪ II. † cell, n.2 Obs. rare—1.
Erroneous f. caul.
1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 498 The fat of sheep which is gathered from the caul or cell.
▪ III. cell, n.3 Cinemat.
Also cel.
[Abbrev. of celluloid.]
A transparent sheet of celluloid or similar film material; esp. such a sheet bearing opaque matter (e.g. a drawing), used in combination with other sheets to produce a composite picture. Also attrib.
1933G. H. Sewell Commercial Cinemat. x. 160 The two drawings are..replaced on the desk, a cell placed on top of them, and the drawing of the ram in its first position is made on the cell. The subsequent cells receive images of the successive positions of the ram. 1938S. W. Bowler in S. G. B. Stubbs Mod. Encycl. Photogr. I. 253/2 The next stage is the substitution of a transparent celluloid ‘overlay’ for the papers on which the figures are drawn. With these celluloid overlays, or ‘cels’ as they are called, there are almost unlimited possibilities of action available, since at least two or three may be used..over the same background. Ibid. 253/2 The drawings are usually made on these ‘cels’ in non-waterproof ink. 1959Halas & Manvell Technique Film Anim. xix. 223 The head of the colouring department..is responsible for handing out the traced cells to the individual colourists. 1959Listener 23 July 126/2 A new pencil called the cell-graph, invented by the London film cartoonist John Halas, enables the key artist to draw his own work directly on to the celluloid sheets. 1966New Scientist 10 Feb. 346/1 The cels have to be individually photographed.
▪ IV. cell, n.3 N. Amer.
Brit. |sɛl|, U.S. |sɛl|
[Shortened ‹cellphone n.]
A cellular telephone, a mobile phone.
1988Cellular follow me Roaming in comp.dcom.telecom (Usenet newsgroup) 30 Nov. It would be nice if the home MTSO had a landline number..to let you set/clear call forwarding (and voice mail) on your cell number while out of town. 1994Times (Winnipeg) 29 Mar. 23/1 Expediency, not privacy, is the cell user's main concern. 1998M. Saraceni et al. Denial, Anger, Accept. in Sopranos (television shooting script) (1st Ser.) 43 (stage direct.) Tony's cell rings. It's Silvio. 2004Rolling Stone 1 Apr. 45/4 His girlfriend..keeps calling his cell to ask for directions to tonight's show.
▪ V. cell, v.
[f. cell n.1]
†a. trans. To shut up in a cell. Obs. rare.
b. intr. To dwell in a cell; spec. to share a prison cell with another person. slang.
1592Warner Alb. Eng. vii. (R.) A recluse from the world, And celled under ground. 1592W. Wyrley Armorie 96 An Abbey strong..Wherein there celd a Monke of enuious moode. 1903J. Flynt Rise of Ruderick Clowd iii. 108, I celled for a couple o' years with old Darbsey—he was doin' life. 1965T. Capote In Cold Blood iii. 130 He was the first fellow I celled with. We celled together I guess a month.
c. trans. To store in cells.
1819J. H. Wiffen Aonian Hours 75 Honey, which the bee Cells beneath briery boughs. 1927Chambers's Jrnl. Feb. 90/1 Last autumn one of my stocks celled twelve pounds in twelve hours.
▪ VI. cell
obs. form of sell, sill. |