Definition of "microtome" []

• An instrument used to cut a specimen, as of organic tissue, into thin sections for microscopic examination. (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.

• "When an inflamed area is examined, after twenty-four hours, by hardening the tissue in some of the fluids used for this purpose and cutting it into very thin slices by means of an instrument called a microtome, the microscope shows a series of changes which were not apparent on naked eye examination."
• "And you have a very sharp knife or what's now called a microtome."
• "A microtome could later be used to slice the sample into segments thin enough to be mounted on microscope slides."