Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A network. Also reticule.
  • noun Neuroglia.
  • noun The network which pervades the substance of the cell and nucleus inclosing the softer portions of the protoplasm.
  • noun The second stomach of a ruminant: that part of a quadripartite stomach which is between the rumen or paunch and the omasum, psalterium, or manyplies; the hood or honeycomb-bag: so called from the reticulation of the ridges into which the mucous membrane is thrown up. It makes the best part of tripe. See cuts under ruminant and Tragulidæ.
  • noun In botany, any reticulated structure; sometimes, specifically, the fibrous web at the base of the petiole in some palms.
  • noun A southern constellation, introduced by La Caille. Also Reticulus Rhomboidalis.
  • noun In botany: The structure formed by the anastomosing strands of plasmodia which collect and fuse as in the genus Fuligo of the slime-molds.
  • noun The supporting network of glandular organs or soft tissues, such as the brain.
  • noun In the hexactinellid sponges, the supporting skeleton composed of reticulating or intersecting bundles of thread-like spicules.
  • noun The network of bone which more or less completely fills some of the long bones, such as the femur of the ostrich and elephant.

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

  • noun The second stomach of ruminants, in which folds of the mucous membrane form hexagonal cells; -- also called the honeycomb stomach.
  • noun The neuroglia.

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

  • proper noun astronomy A small constellation of the southern summer sky, said to resemble a reticle. It lies between the constellations of Horologium and Dorado.

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

  • noun a small constellation in the southern hemisphere near Dorado and Hydrus
  • noun any fine network (especially one in the body composed of cells or blood vessels)
  • noun the second compartment of the stomach of a ruminant

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Named by the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in 1763. From later Latin reticulum, a "reticle". The meaning is often wrongly interpreted as a "net", which is an older meaning of the Latin root word.

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