Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The spherical embryonic mass of blastomeres formed before the blastula and resulting from cleavage of the fertilized ovum.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In embryology, the condition (resembling a mulberry) of an ovum after complete segmentation of the vitellus or yolk and before the formation of a blastula, when the contents are a mass of cells derived by cleavage of the original and successively formed nuclei; a mulberry-mass of blastomeres or cleavage-cells. See monerula, blastula, gastrula, and cut under
gastrulation . - noun In pathology, same as
button-scurvy (which see, underscurvy ).
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Biol.) The sphere or globular mass of cells (blastomeres), formed by the clevage of the ovum or egg in the first stages of its development; -- called also
mulberry mass ,segmentation sphere , andblastosphere . Seesegmentation .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun biology A spherical mass of
blastomeres that forms following the splitting of azygote ; it becomes theblastula .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a solid mass of blastomeres that forms when the zygote splits; develops into the blastula
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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5 The process is repeated again and again, so that the two cells are succeeded by four, eight, sixteen, thirty-two, and so on, with the result that a mass of cells is found within the zona striata, and to this mass the term morula is applied (Fig. 9).
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A solid mass of cells is formed at the beginning, called a morula, Figure 1.
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This is called the morula (= mulberry-embryo) on account of its resemblance to a mulberry or blackberry.
The Evolution of Man — Volume 2 Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel 1876
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From early afternoon yesterday, I lay on my bed reading and just out the glass doors in the male morula tree was a big spotted eagle owl attempting to get some shelter from the relentless rain.
Archive 2010-04-01 Lauri 2010
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From early afternoon yesterday, I lay on my bed reading and just out the glass doors in the male morula tree was a big spotted eagle owl attempting to get some shelter from the relentless rain.
....and it's back to work-sort of! Lauri 2010
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A fertilized egg morula, blastulocyst, very early embryo has no brain.
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A fertilized egg morula, blastulocyst, very early embryo has no brain.
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We lost two on Friday, one other was at the morula stage.
brile Diary Entry brile 2002
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Internal timing now somehow tells the morula to change shape from a compact ball of sixty or so cells to a fluid-filled sphere, the “blastocyst,” housing those previously starved cells destined to become the embryo.
THE HIDDEN FACE OF GOD GERALD L. SCHROEDER 2001
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The morula, as the cluster of cells is called at this stage, floats freely in the uterus until seven or eight days after ovulation, absorbing its needed nutrients from uterine secretions.
THE HIDDEN FACE OF GOD GERALD L. SCHROEDER 2001
BrainyBabe commented on the word morula
I've always liked this word, once for being etymologically a blackberry (in fact, I have a Latin-lover friend who calls her email/phone thingie a Morula, just to be different), and once for being more embryonic than an embryo.
December 24, 2008
Prolagus commented on the word morula
Literally, a blackberrylet.
December 24, 2008