Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In botany: The structure formed by the anastomosing strands of plasmodia which collect and fuse as in the genus Fuligo of the slime-molds.
  • noun The supporting network of glandular organs or soft tissues, such as the brain.
  • noun In the hexactinellid sponges, the supporting skeleton composed of reticulating or intersecting bundles of thread-like spicules.
  • noun The network of bone which more or less completely fills some of the long bones, such as the femur of the ostrich and elephant.
  • noun A network. Also reticule.
  • noun Neuroglia.
  • noun The network which pervades the substance of the cell and nucleus inclosing the softer portions of the protoplasm.
  • noun The second stomach of a ruminant: that part of a quadripartite stomach which is between the rumen or paunch and the omasum, psalterium, or manyplies; the hood or honeycomb-bag: so called from the reticulation of the ridges into which the mucous membrane is thrown up. It makes the best part of tripe. See cuts under ruminant and Tragulidæ.
  • noun In botany, any reticulated structure; sometimes, specifically, the fibrous web at the base of the petiole in some palms.
  • noun A southern constellation, introduced by La Caille. Also Reticulus Rhomboidalis.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The second stomach of ruminants, in which folds of the mucous membrane form hexagonal cells; -- also called the honeycomb stomach.
  • noun The neuroglia.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun astronomy A small constellation of the southern summer sky, said to resemble a reticle. It lies between the constellations of Horologium and Dorado.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a small constellation in the southern hemisphere near Dorado and Hydrus
  • noun any fine network (especially one in the body composed of cells or blood vessels)
  • noun the second compartment of the stomach of a ruminant

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Named by the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in 1763. From later Latin reticulum, a "reticle". The meaning is often wrongly interpreted as a "net", which is an older meaning of the Latin root word.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word Reticulum.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.