Definition of "lorica" [lo•ri•ca]

• Zoology A protective external shell or case, as of a rotifer or any of certain other microscopic animals. (noun)
• A cuirass or corselet worn by Roman soldiers. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Brachionus - These rotifers have a transparent turtle-like shell called a lorica and are found in a variety of habitats, freshwater and marine."
• ""Lorica Glosses," or the glosses which accompany a long Latin prayer, really a charm, called "lorica" or "breast-plate," because it was recited thrice a day to protect the person who used it from all possible injury and accident."
• "So even the Christian hymn of St. Patrick was called the lorica or breastplate of Patrick.] of power, woven of druidic verse, was upon Ulla [Footnote: Ulla is the Gaelic root of Ulster.] in his time, upon all the children of Rury in their going out and their coming in, in war and in peace."