coenobium

Noun

coenobium (plural coenobiums or coenobia)

1. A conventual or monastic community; also, a convent or monastery.
   • [T]his profeſſion of a ſingle life vvas propagated in Egypt by Antony, and in Syria by Hilarion; and ſpred ſo faſt, that ſoon after the time of Julian the Apoſtate a third part of Egyptians vvere got into the deſarts of Egypt. They lived firſt ſingly in cells, then aſſociated into cœnobia or...a. 1728 (date written), Isaac Newton, “Of the King who Did According to His Will, and Magnified Himself above Every God, and Honoured Mahuzzims, and Regarded Not the Desire of Women”, in Observations...
   • Some carts are entirely filled with representatives of the Church, but these are jolly, portly fellows, who pay loyally, and hasten to secure the most delicate fare for the table of their different cœnobiums.1851 October, “Naples Bay and Fish-market”, in Fraser’s Magazine for Town and Country, volume XLIV, number CCLXII, London: John W[illiam] Parker and Son, […], →OCLC, page 447, column 1

   Synonyms:

   cenoby, coenoby

2. (broadly) A fruit of a plant from either of the families Boraginaceae (the borages) or Lamiaceae which has small loculi or compartments, reminiscent of the cells in a convent or monastery.
   • Comfrey fruit is a coenobium consisting not of two (in carpel number) but four monospermous eremes. Eremes are not opened and seed not released from pericarp falls from the plant.2009, N. M. Nayda, “Seed Productivity in Symphytum L. (Boraginaceae)”, in T. B. Batygina, editor, Embryology of Flowering Plants: Terminology and Concepts, volume 3 (Reproductive Systems), Boca...
3. (broadly) A colony of algae which acts as a single organism; a coenobe.
   • […] M. [Louis-Félix] Henneguy finds four kinds of these colonies, which he calls cœnobiums: […] At the moment of fecundation the bundles of antherozoids are set at liberty by the dissolution of the antheridia wall; they move quickly through the water, and fix themselves on the female cœnobiums, and...1877 January 1, “New Books, with Short Notices. [The Different Sexuality of Volvox globator and V. minor.]”, in Henry Lawson, editor, The Monthly Microscopical Journal: Transactions of the Royal...
   • This group includes two genera, Volvox and Eudorina, which resemble Pandorina in many respects, and were formerly included with it in one group. Like Pandorina, these plants are motile, and consist of a number of ciliated cells aggregated into a cœnobium. […] The distinction between these plants...1882, Julius Sachs, “Group I. Thallophytes.”, in Sydney H[oward] Vines, editor, Text-book of Botany: Morphological and Physiological, 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, class...
4. (broadly) A colony of unicellular organisms (such as protozoa) which acts as a single organism.
   • The Radiolaria are marine rhizopods, whose unicellular body always consists of two parts,— […] The individuals are usually single: in only a small minority are the unicellular organisms united in colonies or caenobia.1887 June 17, “Challenger Report”, in Science.—Supplement, volume IX, number 228, New York, N.Y.: The Science Company, →OCLC, page 596, column 2
   • eutely Phenomenon exhibited by a few phyla, notably nematodes, where all individuals have the same number of cells (or nuclei in a coenobium).2007, “eutely”, in J. M. Lackie, editor, The Dictionary of Cell and Molecular Biology, 4th edition, Burlington, Mass.: Academic Press, Elsevier, →ISBN, page 151, column 1