Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An antibody or product of complement activation in blood serum that causes bacteria or other foreign cells to become more susceptible to the action of phagocytes.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A hypothetical substance, present in blood-serum, upon which the phagocytic action of the leucocytes is dependent. Wright and Douglas have demonstrated the presence of substances in the blood which act upon bacteria, rendering them subject to phagocytosis. These bodies they have termed opsonins. It is thought that their presence has to do with the production or existence of immunity. Such immunity is spoken of as opsonic immunity.
Wiktionary
- n. Any antibody that causes an invading species to be more susceptible to phagocytosis
WordNet 3.0
- n. an antibody in blood serum that attaches to invading microorganisms and other antigens to make them more susceptible to the action of phagocytes
Etymologies
- Latin opsōnāre, to buy provisions (from Greek opsōnein, from opson, condiment, delicacy) + -in. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I call opsonin, goes on in the system by ups and downs -- Nature being always rhythmical, you know -- and that what the inoculation does is to stimulate the ups or downs, as the case may be.”
“The "opsonin," or "relish," is something exuded into or produced in the blood fluid when the attacking microbe arrives.”
“In the absence of the relish (the Greek word for it used by Sir Almroth Wright, its discoverer, is "opsonin"), the eater-cells are sluggish -- too sluggish -- in their work.”
“Because of this characteristic, it has been called opsonin by Wright and bacteriotropin by Neufeld.”
“Wright, who has been largely responsible for developing this argument, insists on the subordinate role of the white corpuscles that follow blindly the opsonin lead.”
“This opsonin of normal serum is very labile, being rapidly destroyed at 55° C.; that is, a serum heated at this temperature has practically no greater effect in aiding phagocytosis than normal salt solution has.”
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 2 "Baconthorpe" to "Bankruptcy"
“In the case of the latter animal the serum [v. 03 p. 0180] contains an opsonin which leads to phagocytosis of the bacillus, and the latter is then destroyed by the leucocytes.”
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 2 "Baconthorpe" to "Bankruptcy"
“In the method for demonstrating opsonin about to be described, a comparison is made between the opsonic "power" of the pooled serum and the specific serum.”
“The three most important of the antibodies referred to which can be demonstrated with a certain amount of facility are agglutinin, opsonin and bacteriolysin; and the methods of testing for these bodies will now be considered.”
“To inject a vaccine into a patient without first testing his opsonin is as near murder as a respectable practitioner can get.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘opsonin’.
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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Quacksalvers et al. Nostrum
Bring forth the cathartic illumination on malignant,maniacal,medical,menage a trios and more egotists stymie
culpability, piousfraud, capacitous, rhabdomyolysis, scapula, idiosyncrasy, quiescent, malignant, nefarious, sociological, sociopath, pathogen and 204 more...
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Neuro-logical ??
The discovering of neuro and phago-cyte nano-engineered biology...
opsoclonus, opsomania, speciefic, opsonin, reveal, parsec, stereopsis, scarious, ablative absolute, presage, requisitory, nuance and 62 more...
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near and dear words
epi- opi- where it is at; also connected virtually or otherwise
epitome, epiphany, episcopal, opisthobranch, opisthognathous, oblast, duopsony, opsonin, epistemolgy, epistle, epidote, epidermis and 44 more...
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Science is Fun
parenchyma, stroma, fascia, mesenchyme, basophil, cytokine, opsonin
Tweets
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Jubjub There's ketchup in our blood? Jun 11, 2010