Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In zoology:
  • Having the form or character of a spicule; resembling a spicule; dart-like; spiculiform; spiculate.
  • Containing or composed of spicules; spiculous; spiculiferous or spiculigenous: as, a spicular integument; the spicular skeleton of a sponge or radiolarian.

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

  • adjective Resembling a dart; having sharp points.

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

  • adjective Of, pertaining to, or formed from spicules

Etymologies

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Examples

  • It actually took the team nearly three months of outsourced time to a render farm in Southern California to accurately render the real-time shadows and spicular lighting on the massive white chompers.

    Last night’s entertainment: Starship Troopers 2009

  • Lung cancer, for instance, might start as a spicular nodule in the lung, then unmoor itself and ambulate unexpectedly into the brain.

    The Emperor of All Maladies Siddhartha Mukherjee 2010

  • Lung cancer, for instance, might start as a spicular nodule in the lung, then unmoor itself and ambulate unexpectedly into the brain.

    The Emperor of All Maladies Siddhartha Mukherjee 2010

  • Lung cancer, for instance, might start as a spicular nodule in the lung, then unmoor itself and ambulate unexpectedly into the brain.

    The Emperor of All Maladies Siddhartha Mukherjee 2010

  • Further cooling will lead to more rapid accumulations along the c-axis compared to the a-axes, leading to spicular crystals.

    Archive 2004-09-01 2004

  • Ice that grows in the presence of antifreeze proteins (AFP's) is spicular, forming long, thin structures with a hexagonal cross-section.

    Archive 2004-09-01 2004

  • The AFP's bind to ice steps along the a-axes of an ice crystal, so that spicular growth is growth that is restricted to the c-axis.

    Archive 2004-09-01 2004

  • Paxilla: a small stake or peg: a bundle of spicular processes.

    Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology John. B. Smith

  • The exposed bone is generally rough, in some cases even spicular, and the inner layer of the removed membrane is rough and gritty to the touch -- characters imparted to it by numerous minute fragments of bone that have been torn away with it from the more compact osseous tissue beneath.

    Diseases of the Horse's Foot Harry Caulton Reeks

  • But if the conjecture is pushed still further, and we suppose that the ore was not an oxide, but rich in iron, magnetic or spicular, the result would in all probability be a mass of perfectly malleable iron.

    Industrial Biography Smiles, Samuel, 1812-1904 1863

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