1.
[syn: hormone, endocrine, internal secretion]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Hormone \Hor"mone\ (h[^o]r"m[=o]n), n. [From Gr. "orma`ein to
excite.]
1. (Physiological Chem.) A chemical substance formed in one
organ and carried in the circulation to another organ on
which it exerts a specific effect on cells at a distance
from the producing cells; thus, pituitary hormones
produced in the brain may have effects on cells in distant
parts of the body..
[Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC]
2. (Physiological Chem.) a chemical substance, whether
natural or synthetic, that functions like a hormone in a
living organism. Thus, synthetic steroid hormones may be
more effective than their natural counterparts.
[PJC]
3. (Bot.) A substance that controls growth rate or
differentiation in plants; also called phytohormone. The
most well-known are the auxins that stimulate growth at
the growing tips of plants, and control root formation and
the dropping of leaves; and the gibberellins, which are
used in agriculture to promote plant growth.
[PJC]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
hormone
n 1: the secretion of an endocrine gland that is transmitted by
the blood to the tissue on which it has a specific effect
[syn: hormone, endocrine, internal secretion]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
35 Moby Thesaurus words for "hormone":
Allen-Doisy hormone, adjuvant, adrenosterone, androgen,
androsterone, autacoid, bile, carminative, chalone,
cholecystokinin, chondrotrophic hormone, corticosterone,
counterirritant, dehydrocorticosterone, digestive secretion,
emmenagogue, endocrine, expectorant, gall, gastric juice, insulin,
intestinal juice, maturative, mucus, pancreatic juice,
progesterone, prostatic fluid, rheum, salivary secretion, semen,
sperm, tears, thyroxin, vasodilator, vitamin