Acinus
/ˈæsɪnəs/ noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 One of the small grains or drupelets which make up some kinds of fruit, as the blackberry, raspberry, etc.
- 2 one of the small sacs or saclike dilations in a compound gland wordnet
- 3 A grape-stone.
- 4 one of the small drupes making up an aggregate or multiple fruit like a blackberry wordnet
- 5 One of the granular masses which constitute a racemose or compound gland, as the pancreas; also, one of the saccular recesses in the lobules of a racemose gland.
"Their smallest lobules were called acini, a term which has also been used to denote the saccular recesses in the lobules […]"
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"Their smallest lobules were called acini, a term which has also been used to denote the saccular recesses in the lobules […]"
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from Latin acinus (“grape, grape-stone”); the histopathologic sense comes figuratively from the fancied resemblance (on microscopy) of acinic cells (acinar cells) to bunches of drupelets, berries, or grapes.