01 n. A kernel; hence, a central mass or point about which matter is gathered, or to which accretion is made; the central or material portion; --…
pl.
Nucleuses, Nuclei ((#))
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1.
A kernel; hence, a central mass or point about which matter is gathered, or to which accretion is made; the central or material portion; -- used both literally and figuratively.“It must contain within itself a nucleus of truth.” — I. Taylor.
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2.
The body or the head of a comet.(Astron.)
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3.
An incipient ovule of soft cellular tissue.(Bot.)
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4.
A body, usually spheroidal, in a eukaryotic cell, distinguished from the surrounding protoplasm by a difference in refrangibility and in behavior towards chemical reagents, which contains the chromosomal genetic material, including the chromosomal DNA. It is more or less protoplasmic, and consists of a clear fluid (achromatin) through which extends a network of fibers (chromatin) in which may be suspended a second rounded body, the nucleolus (see Nucleoplasm). See Cell division, under Division.(Biol.) See: Nucleoplasm, Division
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5.
The tip, or earliest part, of a univalve or bivalve shell.(Zool.)