cell

plural cells

1. A single-room dwelling for a hermit.First known use 10th c.

   So, taking them apart into his cell, / He to that point fit speaches gan to frame […].

   1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

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   For three days he and his attendants had wandered in the forest without seeing a human form: but on the evening of the third they came to a cell, in which they found a venerable hermit in the agonies of death.

   1764, Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto, section IV

2. historicalA small monastery or nunnery dependent on a larger religious establishment.First known use 11th c.
3. A small room in a monastery or nunnery accommodating one person.First known use 14th c.

   Gregor Mendel must have spent a good amount of time outside of his cell.

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   A nunʼs bedroom is properly called a cell and is small, bare, and plain, without comfort.

   2002, Jennifer Worth, Call the Midwife, Phoenix (2012), page 315

4. A room in a prison or jail for one or more inmates.First known use 18th c.

   The combatants spent the night in separate cells.

   Synonyms: prison cell

5. Each of the small hexagonal compartments in a honeycomb.First known use 14th c.
6. biologyAny of various chambers in a tissue or organism having specific functions.First known use 14th c.

   Each of the two cells or lobes of the anther is marked with a lateral line or furrow, running from top to bottom[…].

   1858, Asa Gray, Introduction to Structural and Systematic Botany, fifth edition, p. 282

7. biologyThe discal cell of the wing of a lepidopteran insect.
8. obsoleteSpecifically, any of the supposed compartments of the brain, formerly thought to be the source of specific mental capacities, knowledge, or memories.First known use 14th–19th c.

   How soft the music of those village bells / […] With easy force it opens all the cells / Where mem'ry slept.

   1782–1785, William Cowper, “(please specify the page)”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […], →OCLC

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   [W]e shall feel still more contempt for the order of men, who cultivated their faculties, only to enable them to consolidate their power, by leading the ignorant astray; making the learning they concentrated in their cells, a more polished instrument of oppression.

   1794, Mary Wollstonecraft, An Historical and Moral View of the Origin and Progress of the French Revolution

   From cell to cell of his brain crept the one thought; and the wild desire to live, most terrible of all man's appetites, quickened into force each trembling nerve and fibre.

   1890, Oscar Wilde, chapter XVI, in The Picture of Dorian Gray

9. A section or compartment of a larger structure.First known use 16th c.
10. literaryobsoleteAny small dwelling; a remote nook, a den.First known use 16th–19th c.

    Not long shall honour'd Douglas dwell, / Like hunted stag, in mountain-cell[…].

    1810, Walter Scott, “Canto II. The Island.”, in The Lady of the Lake; […], Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for John Ballantyne and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, and William Miller, →OCLC, (please specify the stanza number)

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    Thou seest but the order and policie of this little Cell [translating caveau] wherein thou art placed[…].

    1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC

11. A device which stores electrical power; used either singly or together in batteries; the basic unit of a battery.First known use 19th c.

    This MP3 player runs on 2 AAA cells.

12. biologyThe basic unit of a living organism, consisting of a quantity of protoplasm surrounded by a cell membrane, which is able to synthesize proteins and replicate itself.First known use 19th c.

    In multicellular organisms, groups of cells form tissues and tissues come together to form organs.

    2011, Terence Allen, Graham Cowling, The Cell: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford, page 3

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    An American company has applied to experiment in Britain on Parkinson's disease sufferers by injecting their brains with cells from pigs.

    1999 February 15, Paul Brown, Dave King, The Guardian

13. climatologyA small thunderstorm, caused by convection, that forms ahead of a storm front.First known use 20th c.

    There is a powerful storm cell headed our way.

14. cellular automataThe minimal unit of a cellular automaton that can change state and has an associated behavior.First known use 20th c.

    The upper right cell always starts with the color green.

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    Basically, I'm looking for a fast (the fastest?) way of updating grids, where each cell has to look at an arbitrary number of its neighbors.

    1988 January 26, David Hiebeler, “Fast way to update grids”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet)

    It is used for land-use change simulations, where the content of the cells surrounding a central cell defines how this cell is going to evolve (for example, a cell that is "agriculture" but has 3 urban neighbors will likely become urban, while if it is surrounded by forest or other agriculture cells, it will remain agriculture.)

    2010 March 10, Jean H., “What is CA for?”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet)

    I've seen this space colloquially referred to as MAP (presumably since it maps a 3x3 neighborhood into a future cell state)

    2022 February 11, Mateon1, “Game of Life with real 8 neighbors”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet)

15. card gamesIn FreeCell-type games, a space where one card can be placed.
16. A small group of people forming part of a larger organization, often an outlawed one.First known use 20th c.

    Those three fellows are the local cell of that organization.

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    Salarian intelligence field agents are grouped into an organization called the Special Tasks Group. STG operators work in independent cells, performing dangerous missions such as counter-terrorism, infiltration, reconnaissance, assassination, and sabotage.

    2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Salarians: Special Tasks Group Codex entry

17. communicationA short, fixed-length packet, as in asynchronous transfer mode.First known use 20th c.

    Virtual Channel number 5 received 170 cells.

18. communicationsA region of radio reception, or the group of devices that uses it, that is a part of a larger radio network.

    I get good reception in my home because it is near a cell tower.

19. geometryA three-dimensional facet of a polytope.
20. mathematicsThe unit in a statistical array (a spreadsheet, for example) where a row and a column intersect.
21. architectureThe space between the ribs of a vaulted roof.
22. architectureA cella.
23. biologyAn area of an insect wing bounded by veins.

present singular third person cells · participle present celling · participle past celled · past celled

1. transitiveTo place or enclose in a cell.

   Myself a recluse from the world, And celled under ground, Lest that the gould, the precious stones, And pleasures, here be found

   1586, William Warner, Albion's England

plural cells

1. AustraliaIndiaNew ZealandPhilippinesUSinformalA cellular phone.