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lichen
7 dictionary results for: Lichen
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
li·chen 
[lahy-kuhn] Pronunciation Key
—Related forms
[lahy-kuhn] Pronunciation Key –noun
–verb (used with object)
| 1. | any complex organism of the group Lichenes, composed of a fungus in symbiotic union with an alga and having a greenish, gray, yellow, brown, or blackish thallus that grows in leaflike, crustlike, or branching forms on rocks, trees, etc. |
| 2. | Pathology. any of various eruptive skin diseases. |
| 3. | to cover with or as if with lichens. |
[Origin: 1595–1605; < L līchén < Gk leich
n]
n] —Related forms
li·chen·i·za·tion, noun
li·chen·like, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
| li·chen
(lī'kən) Pronunciation Key
n.
tr.v. li·chened, li·chen·ing, li·chens To cover with lichens. [Latin līchēn, a kind of plant, from Greek leikhēn, from leikhein, to lick; see leigh- in Indo-European roots.] li'chen·ous adj. |
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
lichen
lichen
1601, from L. lichen, from Gk. leichen, originally "what eats around itself," probably from leichein "to lick" (see lick). Originally used of liverwort; the modern sense first recorded 1715.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
| lichen | |
noun | |
| 1. | any of several eruptive skin diseases characterized by hard thick lesions grouped together and resembling lichens growing on rocks |
| 2. | any thallophytic plant of the division Lichenes; occur as crusty patches or bushy growths on tree trunks or rocks or bare ground etc. |
WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
| lichen
(lī'kən) Pronunciation Key
The mutualistic symbiotic association of a fungus with an alga or a cyanobacterium, or both. The fungal component of a lichen absorbs water and nutrients from the surroundings and provides a suitable environment for the alga or cyanobacterium. These live protected among the dense fungal hyphae and produce carbohydrates for the fungus by photosynthesis. Owing to this partnership, lichens can thrive in harsh environments such as mountaintops and polar regions. The more familiar lichens grow slowly as crusty patches, but lichens are found in a variety of forms, such as the tall, plantlike reindeer moss. The association between the different organisms in a lichen is so close that lichens are routinely referred to as a single organism, and scientists classify lichens using the name of the fungal component.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
lichen li·chen (lī'kən)
n.
Any of various skin diseases characterized by patchy eruptions of small, firm papules.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Lichen
Li"chen\ (l[imac]"k[e^]n; 277), n. [L., fr. Gr. leichh`n.]1. (Bot.) One of a class of cellular, flowerless plants, (technically called Lichenes), having no distinction of leaf and stem, usually of scaly, expanded, frond-like forms, but sometimes erect or pendulous and variously branched. They derive their nourishment from the air, and generate by means of spores. The species are very widely distributed, and form irregular spots or patches, usually of a greenish or yellowish color, upon rocks, trees, and various bodies, to which they adhere with great tenacity. They are often improperly called rock moss or tree moss. Note: A favorite modern theory of lichens (called after its inventor the Schwendener hypothesis), is that they are not autonomous plants, but that they consist of ascigerous fungi, parasitic on alg[ae]. Each lichen is composed of white filaments and green, or greenish, rounded cells, and it is argued that the two are of different nature, the one living at the expense of the other. See Hyph[ae], and Gonidia. 2. (Med.) A name given to several varieties of skin disease, esp. to one characterized by the eruption of small, conical or flat, reddish pimples, which, if unchecked, tend to spread and produce great and even fatal exhaustion.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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