idantn.
/ˈʌɪd(ə)nt/, /ˈɪd(ə)nt/, U.S. /ˈaɪdnt/, /ˈɪdnt/ Biology (now historical).
Weismann's term for: each of the chromatin bodies in the nucleus of a reproductive cell, regarded as an aggregation of units of heredity (see id n.2).In quot. 1903 used figuratively in relation to the assimilation of social groups.
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the world > life > biology > biological processes > genetic activity > genetic components > [noun] > chromatin > granules or strands of
idant1892
chromomere1896
chromiole1899
chromidium1906
chromidiosome1912
1892 E. B. Poulton et al. tr. A. Weismann Ess. Heredity (ed. 2) II. xii. 131 There is therefore, in my opinion, nothing inadmissible in the idea of the breaking up of the chromatin rods or idants [Ger. Idanten], during each nuclear resting stage, if only the single ids remain unchanged.
1903 L. F. Ward Pure Sociol. x. 208 At this stage in the process of social karyokinesis the social idants mutually approach the equatorial plate and have already commenced coquetting for a nearer approach.
1913 W. E. Kellicott Textbk. Gen. Embryol. vii. 292 Many, following Weismann, postulate an elaborate series of representative particles within the nucleus: the chromosomes or ‘idants’, are divided into ‘ids’ or chromatin granules.
1970 Isis 61 438 Weismann concurred with most of his contemporaries that during early prophase the idants split longitudinally ‘like a log’.
2002 S. J. Gould Struct. Evolutionary Theory iii. 215 The chromosomes themselves, or ‘idants’ in Weismann's system, carry ids in rows, and stand atop the hierarchy of hereditary units.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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