Definitions

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

  • noun An antibody or product of complement activation in blood serum that causes bacteria or other foreign cells to become more susceptible to the action of phagocytes.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A hypothetical substance, present in blood-serum, upon which the phagocytic action of the leucocytes is dependent.

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

  • noun Any antibody that causes an invading species to be more susceptible to phagocytosis

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

  • noun an antibody in blood serum that attaches to invading microorganisms and other antigens to make them more susceptible to the action of phagocytes

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin opsōnāre, to buy provisions (from Greek opsōnein, from opson, condiment, delicacy; see epi in Indo-European roots) + –in.]

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Examples

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  • There's ketchup in our blood?

    June 11, 2010