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stigmamore about stigma

stigma

 

  2  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Stigma  \Stig"ma\,  n.;  pl  E.  {Stigmas},  L.  {Stigmata}.  [L.,  a 
  mark,  a  brand,  from  Gr  ?,  ?,  the  prick  or  mark  of  a  pointed 
  instrument,  a  spot,  mark,  from  ?  to  prick,  to  brand.  See 
  {Stick},  v.  t.] 
  1.  A  mark  made  with  a  burning  iron;  a  brand. 
 
  2.  Any  mark  of  infamy  or  disgrace;  sign  of  moral  blemish; 
  stain  or  reproach  caused  by  dishonorable  conduct; 
  reproachful  characterization. 
 
  The  blackest  stigma  that  can  be  fastened  upon  him 
  --Bp.  Hall. 
 
  All  such  slaughters  were  from  thence  called 
  Bartelmies  simply  in  a  perpetual  stigma  of  that 
  butchery.  --Sir  G.  Buck. 
 
  3.  (Bot.)  That  part  of  a  pistil  which  has  no  epidermis,  and 
  is  fitted  to  receive  the  pollen.  It  is  usually  the 
  terminal  portion,  and  is  commonly  somewhat  glutinous  or 
  viscid.  See  Illust.  of  {Stamen}  and  of  {Flower}. 
 
  4.  (Anat.)  A  small  spot,  mark,  scar,  or  a  minute  hole;  -- 
  applied  especially  to  a  spot  on  the  outer  surface  of  a 
  Graafian  follicle,  and  to  spots  of  intercellular  substance 
  in  scaly  epithelium,  or  to  minute  holes  in  such  spots. 
 
  5.  (Pathol.)  A  red  speck  upon  the  skin,  produced  either  by 
  the  extravasation  of  blood,  as  in  the  bloody  sweat 
  characteristic  of  certain  varieties  of  religious  ecstasy, 
  or  by  capillary  congestion,  as  in  the  case  of  drunkards. 
 
  6.  (Zo["o]l.) 
  a  One  of  the  external  openings  of  the  trache[ae]  of 
  insects,  myriapods,  and  other  arthropods;  a  spiracle. 
  b  One  of  the  apertures  of  the  pulmonary  sacs  of 
  arachnids.  See  Illust.  of  {Scorpion}. 
  c  One  of  the  apertures  of  the  gill  of  an  ascidian,  and 
  of  Amphioxus. 
 
  7.  (Geom.)  A  point  so  connected  by  any  law  whatever  with 
  another  point,  called  an  index,  that  as  the  index  moves  in 
  any  manner  in  a  plane  the  first  point  or  stigma  moves  in  a 
  determinate  way  in  the  same  plane. 
 
  8.  pl  (R.  C.  Ch.)  Marks  believed  to  have  been  supernaturally 
  impressed  upon  the  bodies  of  certain  persons  in  imitation 
  of  the  wounds  on  the  crucified  body  of  Christ.  See  def.  5, 
  above. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  stigma 
  n  1:  the  apical  end  of  the  style  where  pollen  is  deposited 
  2:  a  symbol  of  disgrace  or  infamy;  "And  the  Lord  set  a  mark 
  upon  Cain"--Genesis  [syn:  {mark},  {brand},  {stain}] 
  3:  an  external  tracheal  aperture  in  a  terrestrial  arthropod 
  4:  a  skin  lesion  that  is  a  diagnostic  sign  of  some  disease




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