Lexic.us

Definition of Cell wall

1. Noun. A rigid layer of polysaccharides enclosing the membrane of plant and prokaryotic cells; maintains the shape of the cell and serves as a protective barrier.

Definition of Cell wall

1. Noun. (cytology) A thick, fairly rigid, layer formed around individual cells of bacteria, Archaea, fungi, plants, and algae (but not animals and other protists which generally have cell membranes without cell walls). The cell wall is external to the cell membrane and serves a structural function helping the cell maintain its shape and protecting the cell from damage. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Medical Definition of Cell wall

1. 1. Extracellular material serving a structural role. 2. In plants the primary wall is pectin rich, the secondary wall mostly composed of cellulose. 3. In bacteria, cell wall structure is complex: the walls of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria are distinctly different. Removal of the wall leaves a protoplast or spheroplast. (07 Apr 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Cell Wall

Literary usage of Cell wall

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Encyclopaedia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and General by Thomas Spencer Baynes (1888)
"3), or club- ber tribe, and in the pith of aquatic plants, cells and ^jth of an inch in diameter occur. In young cells the cell-wall is a thin membrane ..."

2. Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society by Cambridge Philosophical Society (1886)
"The following communications were made : (1) On the constitution of the Cell-wall and Middle Lamella. By Walter GARDINER, BA IF we accept the view of ..."

3. Lectures on Plant Physiology by Ludwig Jost (1907)
"A ' simultaneous ' cell-wall formation of ... The new wall, as in Spirogyra, may extend inwards from the mother cell-wall in the form of a plate or ridge, ..."

4. Gray's Botanical Text-book by Asa Gray (1885)
"The relations of the cell-wall to protoplasm arc not yet fully understood; ... The cell-wall is formed by the solidification upon the exterior of a ..."

5. Science by American Association for the Advancement of Science (1883)
"The plasmalemma controls the pattern of the cell wall by guiding wall material to its proper position, and also probably controls the "shape" of the ..."

6. Physiological Botany by George Lincoln ( Goodale (1890)
"The relations of the cell-wall to protoplasm are not yet full}- ... The cell-wall is formed b}- the solidification upon the exterior of a protoplasmic mass, ..."

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