Definition of "corpuscle" [cor•pus•cle]

• An unattached body cell, such as a blood or lymph cell. (noun)
• A rounded globular mass of cells, such as the pressure receptor on certain nerve endings. (noun)
• A discrete particle, such as a photon or an electron. (noun)
• A minute globular particle. (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.

• "There are others, of rare occurrence in chains, which have a clear corpuscle, that is to say, a portion more refractive than other parts of the segments, at one of their extremities."
• "The first theory put forward by Sir J.J. Thomson in explanation of these facts, was that these kathode particles ( "corpuscles" as he termed them) were electrically charged portions of matter, much smaller than the smallest atom; and since the same sort of corpuscle is obtained whatever gas is contained in the vacuum tube, it is reasonable to conclude that the corpuscle is the common unit of all matter."
• "The corpuscle, which is perfectly visible to the naked eye (and which can be most easily demonstrated in the mesentery of a cat), consists of a number of lamellæ or capsules arranged more or less concentrically around a central clear space, in which the nerve fiber is contained."