Hypertext Webster Gateway: "stigma"

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) 1.7 (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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