nematocyst en · NOUN
Etymology
Formed as nemato- + cyst after the French nématocyste.
Meanings
-
A capsule, in certain cnidarians, containing a barbed, threadlike tube that delivers a paralyzing sting
Nematocyst discharge is another example of the Rubicon principle – it either fires or it does not.
2014, Anthony K. Campbell, Intracellular Calcium, page 350:The young nematocyst decreases in size and becomes coarsely granular, the granules arranging themselves in a spiral line close under the external membrane.
1902, Arthur Willey, Zoological Results Based on Material from New Britain, New Guinea, Loyalty Islands and Elsewhere, page 379:Often one sees, on surface view, a distinctly rounded vacuole, occupying a position in the cell occupied in others by a large nematocyst.
1885, R. J. Harvey Gibson, “Observations on the nematocysts of Hydra fusca”, in Proceedings of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Liverpool, volume 39, page 30:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| nematocysts | Number=Plur | lexicographic |