Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A thin skin or film, such as an organic membrane or liquid film.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In entomology, the skin of the subimago of an ephemerid.
- noun A little or thin skin; a cuticle; a film; a scum: as, the nacreous pellicle of some shells; the coaly pellicle of many fossil plants; the filmy pellicle or scum of infusions in which infusorial animalcules or microscopic fungi develop.
- noun In chem., a thin crust formed on the surface of saline solutions when evaporated to a certain degree. This pellicle consists of crystallized saline particles.
- noun In botany, same as
cortical layer (Which see, undercortical )
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A thin skin or film.
- noun (Chem.) A thin film formed on the surface of an evaporating solution.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A thin skin or film.
- noun
Cuticle , the hard protective outer layer of certain life forms. - noun The skin of a mushroom cap.
- noun The growth on the surface of a liquid culture.
- noun The
photosensitive emulsion of photographic film. - noun optics A thin plastic membrane used as a
beam splitter or protective cover. - noun mycology the outermost layer of a mushroom, often used only for a surface that is viscid and easily peels off.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun thin protective membrane in some protozoa
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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This inner skin is called the pellicle - sometimes it will come off along with the outer skin but if it doesn't just place the chestnut back in the boiling water and let it soak for a few minutes for it to soften.
Archive 2008-04-01 Haalo 2008
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This inner skin is called the pellicle - sometimes it will come off along with the outer skin but if it doesn't just place the chestnut back in the boiling water and let it soak for a few minutes for it to soften.
Chestnut Soup Haalo 2008
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Caseine is insoluble in water, but dissolves readily in alkalies; its solution is not coagulated by heat, but, on evaporation, becomes covered with a thin pellicle, which is renewed as often as it is removed.
Elements of Agricultural Chemistry Thomas Anderson
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The cap was covered with a sticky, skin-like layer, called the pellicle or cuticle, both terms having the same meaning.
Among the Mushrooms A Guide For Beginners Caroline A. Burgin
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Perhaps this bit of folk-lore was suggested by the shape of the pellicle, which is that of a heart.
Two Years in the French West Indies Lafcadio Hearn 1877
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The pellicle is the empty envelope of the Anthophora's egg; the louse is a Meloe-larva.
The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles Jean-Henri Fabre 1869
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Then beneath this pellicle, which is so delicate that it can hardly bear the most cautious touch, we see a soft, white mass taking shape,
The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles Jean-Henri Fabre 1869
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Detween this membrane atul the pellicle was the fame red liquor, but lefs in quantity than was contained ii\ the former ftage.
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That fermentation promotes the drying and loosens the silvery pellicle which is attached to the bean inside the parchment, and which cannot be entirely got rid of in any other way.
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But this "pellicle" of Professor Bastian is not mere structureless matter, any more than the "bioplast" of Professor Beale.
Life: Its True Genesis R. W. Wright
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