tubercle
UK /ˈt(j)uː.bə.kəl/ · US /ˈt(j)u.bəɹ.kəl/ noun
Forms tubercles tubercule tuberculum
- noun (anatomy) A round nodule, small eminence, or warty outgrowth, especially those found on bones for the attachment of a muscle or ligament or small elevations on the surface of a tooth.
- noun (botany) A small rounded wartlike protuberance of the roots of some leguminous plants; the lip of certain orchids, cacti.
- noun (pathology) A small rounded nodule forming the characteristic lesion of tuberculosis.
Synonyms
Etymology
Derived from Latin tūberculum. Compare tuber.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A small knoblike prominence or excrescence, whether natural or morbid; as, a tubercle on a plant; a tubercle on a bone; the tubercles appearing on the body in leprosy.
- noun A small mass or aggregation of morbid matter; especially, the deposit which accompanies scrofula or phthisis. This is composed of a hard, grayish, or yellowish, translucent or opaque matter, which gradually softens, and excites suppuration in its vicinity. It is most frequently found in the lungs, causing consumption. Tubercle bacillus (Med.), a minute vegetable organism (Bacillus tuberculosis) discovered by Koch, a German physician, in the sputum of consumptive patients and in tuberculous tissue, and believed to be the exciting cause of tubercles and tuberculosis.
Etymology [L. tuberculum, dim. of tuber: cf. F. tubercule, OF. also tubercle. See Tuber.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “tubercle”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details