protoplast

[proh-tuh-plast]

noun

1. Biology.

   1. the contents of a cell within the cell membrane, considered as a fundamental entity.

   2. the primordial living unit or cell.

2. a person or thing that is formed first; original; prototype.

3. the hypothetical first individual or one of the supposed first pair of a species or the like.

protoplast

/ ˈprəʊtəˌplæst /

noun

1. a unit consisting of the living parts of a cell, including the protoplasm and cell membrane but not the vacuoles or (in plants) the cell wall

Other Word Forms

• protoplastic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of protoplast¹

1525–35; < Late Latin prōtoplastus the first man, noun use of Greek prōtóplastos formed first. See proto-, -plast

Word History and Origins

Origin of protoplast¹

C16: from Late Latin prōtoplastus the first-formed, from Greek prōtoplastos, from _proto- + plassein to shape

Example Sentences

Stewart and his collaborators have developed a robot that performs an established technique called protoplast transformation faster and more accurately than is possible by hand.

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The curtain of the night was torn To show the protoplast Transfigured on the finer face Of that far prehistoric race— We, clumsy, call Lemurian!

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Fortunately the time was already past when protoplast patients were looked upon as something mildly freakish and to be pitied.

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Shall this germ and protoplast of being Rest mid-life and say his race is run?

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Ferragut, on passing from one tank to the other, mentally established the gradation of the fauna from the primitive protoplast to the perfect organism.

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