cells

Noun

cell (plural cells)

1. A single-room dwelling for a hermit.
   • 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
2. (historical) A small monastery or nunnery dependent on a larger religious establishment.
3. A small room in a monastery or nunnery accommodating one person.
   • Gregor Mendel must have spent a good amount of time outside of his cell.
4. A room in a prison or jail for one or more inmates.
   • The combatants spent the night in separate cells.

   Synonyms:

   prison cell

5. Each of the small hexagonal compartments in a honeycomb.
6. Any of various chambers in a tissue or organism having specific functions.
   • 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

See all 25 meanings of cell