Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of the lymphocytes that when stimulated by a particular antigen differentiate into plasma cells and that in mammals mature in the bone marrow.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun immunology A lymphocyte, developed in the bursa of birds and the bone marrow of other animals, that produces antibodies and is responsible for the immune system.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a lymphocyte derived from bone marrow that provides humoral immunity; it recognizes free antigen molecules in solution and matures into plasma cells that secrete immunoglobulin (antibodies) that inactivate the antigens

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[b(ursa-dependent) cell, after the bursa of Fabricius, a gland in birds where the cells mature and the first such tissue found in vertebrates.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From b(ursa) + cell.

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