corpuscle
    n 1: (nontechnical usage) a tiny piece of anything [syn: atom,
         molecule, particle, corpuscle, mote, speck]
    2: either of two types of cells (erythrocytes and leukocytes)
       and sometimes including platelets [syn: blood cell, blood
       corpuscle, corpuscle]

Corpuscle \Cor"pus*cle\ (-p[u^]s*s'l), n. [L. corpusculum, dim.
   of corpus.]
   1. A minute particle; an atom; a molecule.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. (Anat.) A protoplasmic animal cell; esp., such as float
      free, like blood, lymph, and pus corpuscles; or such as
      are imbedded in an intercellular matrix, like connective
      tissue and cartilage corpuscles. See Blood.
      [1913 Webster]

            Virchow showed that the corpuscles of bone are
            homologous with those of connective tissue.
                                                  --Quain's
                                                  Anat.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. (Physics) An electron. [archaic]
      [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

   Red blood corpuscles (Physiol.), in man, yellowish,
      biconcave, circular discs varying from 1/3500 to 1/3200 of
      an inch in diameter and about 1/12400 of an inch thick.
      They are composed of a colorless stroma filled in with
      semifluid h[ae]moglobin and other matters. In most mammals
      the red corpuscles are circular, but in the camels, birds,
      reptiles, and the lower vertebrates generally, they are
      oval, and sometimes more or less spherical in form. In
      Amphioxus, and most invertebrates, the blood corpuscles
      are all white or colorless.

   White blood corpuscles (Physiol.), rounded, slightly
      flattened, nucleated cells, mainly protoplasmic in
      composition, and possessed of contractile power. In man,
      the average size is about 1/2500 of an inch, and they are
      present in blood in much smaller numbers than the red
      corpuscles.
      [1913 Webster]

Electron \E*lec"tron\, n. [NL., fr. Gr. 'h`lektron. See
   Electric.]
   1. Amber; also, the alloy of gold and silver, called
      electrum. [archaic]
      [1913 Webster]

   2. (Physics & Chem.) one of the fundamental subatomic
      particles, having a negative charge and about one
      thousandth the mass of a hydrogen atom. The electron
      carries (or is) a natural unit of negative electricity,
      equal to 3.4 x 10^-10 electrostatic units, and is
      classed by physicists as a lepton. Its mass is
      practically constant at the lesser speeds, but increases
      due to relativistic effects as the velocity approaches
      that of light. Electrons are all of one kind, so far as is
      known. Thus far, no structure has been detected within an
      electron, and it is probably one of the ultimate composite
      constituents of all matter. An atom or group of atoms from
      which an electron has been detached has a positive charge
      and is called a cation. Electrons are projected from the
      cathode of vacuum tubes (including television picture
      tubes) as cathode rays and from radioactive substances
      as the beta rays. Previously also referred to as
      corpuscle, an obsolete term. The motion of electrons
      through metallic conductors is observed as an electric
      current. A particle identical to the electron in mass and
      most other respects, but having a positive instead of a
      negative charge, is called a positron, or antielectron
      [Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC] Electro-negative