nerve cell

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The body of a neuron without its axon and dendrites.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun Any cell constituting part of the nervous system.
• noun More particularly, one of the essential cells of the nervous centers, forming, in its entirety or in part, the parts along which the nervous impulses are propagated and distributed in the activity of such centers.

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

• noun cytology A cell of the nervous system which conducts nerve impulses; a neuron.

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

• noun a cell that is specialized to conduct nerve impulses