laminæ

A form of lamina — Any of a number of layer or plate-like structures in human or animal bodies.

Meanings

noun
  1. archaicpluralplural of lamina

    The beautiful prismatic colours seen on the Labrodore stone are owing to a similar cause, viz. the thinness of the laminæ of which it consists […].

    1791, Erasmus Darwin, The Economy of Vegetation, J. Johnson, page 120
    5 more examples

    Upon Examination, I found that they [the fat] conſiſted of regular large Laminæ: vvhich vvere eaſily ſeparable from one another, in broad Fleaks; […]

    1698 April, Edw[ard] Tyson, “Carigueya, seu Marsupiale Americanum. Or, The Anatomy of an Opossum, Dissected at Gresham-College by Edvv. Tyson, […]”, in Philosophical Transactions. Giving Some Account of the Present Undertakings, Studies and Labours of the Ingenious, in Many Considerable Parts of the World, volume XX, number 239, London: […] Sam[uel] Smith and Benj[amin] Walford, printers to the Royal Society, […], →OCLC, page 139

    Some close helmets have a farther improvement called a bever, the bever when closed covers the mouth and chin, and either lifts up by revolving on the same pivots as the visor, or lets down by means of two or more pivots on each side near the jaws, in which case the bever consists of several laminæ or plates, one shutting over the other.

    1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 8

    Bismuth is the most common of all native metallic substances. It is generally found either in cubes or octagons, or of a dendritical form, or else in thin laminæ investing the ores of other metals, particularly those of cobalt.

    1808, William Nicholson, “Ores of Bismuth”, in A Dictionary of Practical and Theoretical Chemistry, […], London: […] Richard Phillips, […], →OCLC, column 2

    Cymolite. Is a substance nearly allied to the preceding [Green Earth] and the following [Fuller’s Earth]; colour white, or with a reddish tinge, adheres to the tongue; in water separates in laminæ, which become translucent; is rare: from Derbyshire.

    1816, John Mawe, A Descriptive Catalogue of Minerals, Intended for the Use of Students, pages 56–57

    If we provide ourselves with about a Selibra or half pound of the Cheese, entitulated Duplex Glocestrius, or Double Gloucester; and then go on to cut the intrinsic caseous Matter into tenuous Segments of Laminæ; […]

    1847, [William Makepeace] Thackeray; Albert [Richard] Smith; Gilbert [Abbott] a Beckett; the Brothers Mayhew [i.e., Horace Mayhew; Henry Mayhew], “Sir Thomas Brown on Welsh Rabbits. Being a Continuation of His “Inquiries into Vulgar and Common Errors.””, in The Comic Almanack: An Ephemeris in Jest and Earnest, Containing Merry Tales, Humorous Poetry, Quips, and Oddities, second series (1844–1853), London: John Camden Hotten, […]; New York, N.Y.: Scribner, Welford and Co., published 1853, page 169
Cite this entry
APA

laminæ. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lamin%C3%A6

MLA

“laminæ.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lamin%C3%A6. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “laminæ,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lamin%C3%A6.

Source: laminæ on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.