Search results for 'capsule':

capsule noun 1 a hard or soft soluble case, usually made of gelatine, containing a single dose of a powdered drug to be taken orally. 2 (also space capsule) a small spacecraft or a compartment within a spacecraft that houses the instruments and crew for the duration of a space flight. 3 anatomy a membranous sheath, sac or other structure that surrounds an organ or tissue, eg the capsule that surrounds the lens of the eye or the moving parts of a joint. 4 bot in some flowering plants, eg poppy: a dry dehiscent fruit, formed by the fusion of two or more carpels, that splits open to release its many seeds. 5 biol the gelatinous envelope of protein or polysaccharide that surrounds and protects certain bacteria. capsular adj.
ETYMOLOGY: 17c: French, from Latin capsula, diminutive of capsa box.