Log in or Sign up
hyaline love

hyaline

Definitions

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

  • adjective Resembling glass, as in translucence or transparency; glassy.
  • noun Something that is translucent or transparent.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Glassy; resembling glass; consisting of glass; crystalline; transparent: as, the hyaline or crystalline lens of the eye.
  • noun A glassy or transparent substance or surface.
  • noun Specifically— The hyaloid membrane of the eye. See hyaloid.
  • noun Hyaline cartilage. See cartilage.
  • noun A pellucid substance which determines the spontaneous division of cells or originates cell-nuclei; hyaloplasm.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Glassy; resembling glass; consisting of glass; transparent, like crystal.
  • noun A poetic term for the sea or the atmosphere.
  • noun (Biol.) The pellucid substance, present in cells in process of development, from which, according to some embryologists, the cell nucleus originates.
  • noun (Physiol. Chem.) The main constituent of the walls of hydatid cysts; a nitrogenous body, which, by decomposition, yields a dextrogyrate sugar, susceptible of alcoholic fermentation.

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

  • adjective Glassy, transparent; amorphous.
  • noun Anything glassy, translucent or transparent; the sea or sky.
  • noun zoology, anatomy A clear translucent substance in tissues.
  • noun biochemistry The main constituent of the walls of hydatid cysts; a nitrogenous body, which, by decomposition, yields a dextrogyrate sugar, susceptible to alcoholic fermentation.

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

  • adjective resembling glass in transparency or translucency
  • noun a glassy translucent substance that occurs in hyaline cartilage or in certain skin conditions

Etymologies

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

[Late Latin hyalinus, from Greek hualinos, of glass, from hualos, glass.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin hyalinus, from late Ancient Greek ύαλινος, from ύαλος ("glass").

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word hyaline.

Examples

  • At the time, the malady was called hyaline membrane disease because glassy membranes were found in autopsies of infants who had gasped for breath and quickly died.

    NYT > Home Page By DOUGLAS MARTIN 2012

  • Respiratory distress syndrome also known as hyaline membrane disease occurs when the underdeveloped lungs of the premature infant cannot expand and contract as they should with each inspiration.

    Mothering Twins LINDA ALBI 1993

  • Respiratory distress syndrome also known as hyaline membrane disease occurs when the underdeveloped lungs of the premature infant cannot expand and contract as they should with each inspiration.

    Mothering Twins LINDA ALBI 1993

  • Respiratory distress syndrome also known as hyaline membrane disease occurs when the underdeveloped lungs of the premature infant cannot expand and contract as they should with each inspiration.

    Mothering Twins LINDA ALBI 1993

  • Two other daughters preceding Dominique died in infancy from a lung disease once common in cesarean births known as hyaline membrane disease.

    Dominick Dunne on His Daughter's Murder Dominick Dunne 1984

  • I have no idea if that particular review is really where I first came encountered "hyaline", or if there's some conspiratorial agreement among critics that they should always describe Sontag's writing that way.

    Making Light: Open thread 136 2010

  • Also called RDS or hyaline membrane disease, respiratory distress syndrome is a condition of premature infant lungs due to insufficient sufactant (see surfactant).

    Glossary 2010

  • Hyaline, in the context of the book, refers to the glassy surface of the ocean, i.e., "the lovely glistening hyaline waters."

    Making Light: Open thread 136 2010

  • I've met catenate, hyaline, and fecundate, just not often.

    Making Light: Open thread 136 2010

  • Hmm... a bit of Googling produces this short book review by Charles Solomon, which has the line: "As an essayist, Didion lacks the hyaline profundity of Susan Sontag or the classical erudition of Marguerite Yourcenar ..."

    Making Light: Open thread 136 2010

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • chained_bear commented on the word hyaline

    "The cells that line the alveoli were damaged, if they survived the virus itself. Pink glassy membranes, called hyaline membranes, formed on the insides of the alveoli. Once these membranes formed, surfactant—a slippery, soap-like protein that reduces surface tension and eases the transfer of oxygen into red blood cells—disappeared from the alveoli. More blood flooded the lungs..."

    —John M. Barry, The Great Influenza (NY: Penguin Books, 2004), 249

    February 16, 2009

  • bilby commented on the word hyaline

    Doesn't New York have one of these?

    October 12, 2021

  • ruzuzu commented on the word hyaline

    I think it's where they play jai alai.

    October 13, 2021