amebocyte

American

[uh-mee-buh-sahyt] / əˈmi bəˌsaɪt /

Or amoebocyte

noun

Zoology.

a migratory, ameboid cell found in many invertebrates that functions in excretion, assimilation, etc.

Etymology

Origin of amebocyte

ameb(a) + -o- + -cyte

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The horseshoe crabs are valuable because their blood can be manufactured into limulus amebocyte lysate, or LAL, that is used to detect pathogens in indispensable medicines such as injectable antibiotics.

From Seattle Times • Jul. 30, 2023

Scientists harnessed nature’s ingenuity, using crab blood to make so-called amebocyte lysate endotoxin tests which, by the 1970s, began displacing tests on rabbits that were injected with medicine then monitored for fever.

From Reuters • Aug. 1, 2019

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023