1.
[syn: plasma, plasm, blood plasma]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Plasma \Plas"ma\, n. [See Plasm.]
1. (Min.) A variety of quartz, of a color between grass green
and leek green, which is found associated with common
chalcedony. It was much esteemed by the ancients for
making engraved ornaments.
[1913 Webster]
2. (Biol.) The viscous material of an animal or vegetable
cell, out of which the various tissues are formed by a
process of differentiation; protoplasm.
[1913 Webster]
3. Unorganized material; elementary matter.
[1913 Webster]
4. (Med.) A mixture of starch and glycerin, used as a
substitute for ointments. --U. S. Disp.
[1913 Webster]
5. same as blood plasma.
[PJC]
6. (physics) a state of matter in which charged particles
such as electrons and atomi nuclei have sufficiently high
energy to move freely, rather than be bound in atoms as in
ordinary matter; it has some of the properties of a gas,
but is a conductor of electricity.
Note: In a typical plasma, the number of positive and
negative particles are approximately equal. Plasmas are
found naturally in the atmosphere of stars, and can be
created in special laboratory apparatus.
[PJC]
Blood plasma (Physiol.), the colorless fluid of the blood,
in which the red and white blood corpuscles are suspended.
It may be obtained by centrifuation of blood to remove the
blood cells. It is distinguished from serum in that
plasma still has the fibrin of blood, and may be clotted,
while in serum the fibrin has been removed.
Muscle plasma (Physiol.), the fundamental part of muscle
fibers, a thick, viscid, albuminous fluid contained within
the sarcolemma, which on the death of the muscle
coagulates to a semisolid mass.
[1913 Webster +PJC] Plasmatic
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
blood plasma
n 1: the colorless watery fluid of the blood and lymph that
contains no cells, but in which the blood cells
(erythrocytes, leukocytes, and thrombocytes) are suspended
[syn: plasma, plasm, blood plasma]