diatom : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: diatom	by the DICT Development Group
2 results for diatom
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
diatom n microscopic unicellular marine or freshwater colonial alga having cell walls impregnated with silica
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Diatom \Di"a*tom\, n. [Gr. [?] cut in two. See {Diatomous}.] 1. (Bot.) One of the Diatomace[91], a family of minute unicellular Alg[91] having a siliceous covering of great delicacy, each individual multiplying by spontaneous division. By some authors diatoms are called Bacillari[91], but this word is not in general use. 2. A particle or atom endowed with the vital principle. The individual is nothing. He is no more than the diatom, the bit of protoplasm. --Mrs. E. Lynn Linton.