Hypertext Webster Gateway: "tubercle"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Tubercle \Tu"ber*cle\, n. [L. tuberculum, dim. of tuber: cf. F.
tubercule, OF. also tubercle. See {Tuber}.]
1. A small knoblike prominence or excrescence, whether
natural or morbid; as, a tubercle on a plant; a tubercle
on a bone; the tubercles appearing on the body in leprosy.
2. (Med.) A small mass or aggregation of morbid matter;
especially, the deposit which accompanies scrofula or
phthisis. This is composed of a hard, grayish, or
yellowish, translucent or opaque matter, which gradually
softens, and excites suppuration in its vicinity. It is
most frequently found in the lungs, causing consumption.
{Tubercle bacillus} (Med.), a minute vegetable organism
({Bacillus tuberculosis}) discovered by Koch, a German
physician, in the sputum of consumptive patients and in
tuberculous tissue, and believed to be the exciting cause
of tubercles and tuberculosis.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
tubercle
n 1: a swelling that is the characteristic lesion of tuberculosis
2: small rounded wartlike protuberance on a plant [syn: {nodule}]
3: a protuberance on a bone especially for attachment of a
muscle or ligament [syn: {tuberosity}, {eminence}]
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