Priory \Pri"o*ry\, n.; pl. Priories. [Cf. LL. prioria. See
   Prior, n.]
   A religious house presided over by a prior or prioress; --
   sometimes an offshoot of, an subordinate to, an abbey, and
   called also cell, and obedience. See Cell, 2.
   [1913 Webster]

   Note: Of such houses there were two sorts: one where the
         prior was chosen by the inmates, and governed as
         independently as an abbot in an abbey; the other where
         the priory was subordinate to an abbey, and the prior
         was placed or displaced at the will of the abbot.
         [1913 Webster]

   Alien priory, a small religious house dependent on a large
      monastery in some other country.
      [1913 Webster]

   Syn: See Cloister.
        [1913 Webster]

	

	Cell \Cell\, n. [OF. celle, fr. L. cella; akin to celare to
   hide, and E. hell, helm, conceal. Cf. Hall.]
   1. A very small and close apartment, as in a prison or in a
      monastery or convent; the hut of a hermit.
      [1913 Webster]

            The heroic confessor in his cell.     --Macaulay.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. A small religious house attached to a monastery or
      convent. "Cells or dependent priories." --Milman.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Any small cavity, or hollow place.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. (Arch.)
      (a) The space between the ribs of a vaulted roof.
      (b) Same as Cella.
          [1913 Webster]

   5. (Elec.) A jar of vessel, or a division of a compound
      vessel, for holding the exciting fluid of a battery.
      [1913 Webster]

   6. (Biol.) One of the minute elementary structures, of which
      the greater part of the various tissues and organs of
      animals and plants are composed.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: All cells have their origin in the primary cell from
         which the organism was developed. In the lowest animal
         and vegetable forms, one single cell constitutes the
         complete individual, such being called unicelluter
         orgamisms. A typical cell is composed of a semifluid
         mass of protoplasm, more or less granular, generally
         containing in its center a nucleus which in turn
         frequently contains one or more nucleoli, the whole
         being surrounded by a thin membrane, the cell wall. In
         some cells, as in those of blood, in the am[oe]ba, and
         in embryonic cells (both vegetable and animal), there
         is no restricting cell wall, while in some of the
         unicelluliar organisms the nucleus is wholly wanting.
         See Illust. of Bipolar.
         [1913 Webster]

   Air cell. See Air cell.

   Cell development (called also cell genesis, cell
      formation, and cytogenesis), the multiplication, of
      cells by a process of reproduction under the following
      common forms; segmentation or fission, gemmation or
      budding, karyokinesis, and endogenous multiplication. See
      Segmentation, Gemmation, etc.

   Cell theory. (Biol.) See Cellular theory, under
      Cellular.
      [1913 Webster]

	

	Cell \Cell\ (s[e^]l), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Celled (s[e^]ld).]
   To place or inclose in a cell. "Celled under ground." [R.]
   --Warner.
   [1913 Webster]

	

	cell
     n 1: any small compartment; "the cells of a honeycomb"
     2: (biology) the basic structural and functional unit of all
        organisms; cells may exist as independent units of life
        (as in monads) or may form colonies or tissues as in
        higher plants and animals
     3: a device that delivers an electric current as the result of
        a chemical reaction [syn: electric cell]
     4: a small unit serving as part of or as the nucleus of a
        larger political movement [syn: cadre]
     5: a hand-held mobile radiotelephone for use in an area divided
        into small sections (cells), each with its own short-range
        transmitter/receiver [syn: cellular telephone, cellular
        phone, cellphone, mobile phone]
     6: small room is which a monk or nun lives [syn: cubicle]
     7: a room where a prisoner is kept [syn: jail cell, prison
        cell]

	

	136 Moby Thesaurus words for "cell":
   POW camp, Photronic cell, adytum, animal cell, apartment, ashram,
   bastille, bioplast, black hole, booth, borstal,
   borstal institution, box, bridewell, brig, bunch, cabal, cadre,
   camarilla, cavity, cellular tissue, cellule, chamber,
   charmed circle, chromatoplasm, circle, clan, clique, cloister,
   closed circle, coenocyte, compartment, concentration camp,
   condemned cell, corpuscle, coterie, crew, crib, crowd, crypt,
   cubicle, cytoplasm, death cell, death house, death row, den,
   detention camp, ectoplasm, electron-image tube, elite, elite group,
   enclosed space, endoplasm, energid, eucaryotic cell,
   federal prison, forced-labor camp, gaol, gas phototube, germ cell,
   group, guardhouse, hermitage, hideaway, hideout, hiding place,
   hold, hole, hollow, holy of holies, house of correction,
   house of detention, industrial school, ingroup, inner circle,
   internment camp, ivory tower, jail, jailhouse, junta, junto, keep,
   labor camp, lair, lockup, manger, maximum-security prison, mew,
   minimum-security prison, mob, multiplier phototube, oubliette,
   outfit, pen, penal colony, penal institution, penal settlement,
   penitentiary, pew, photoconductor cell, photomultiplier tube,
   phototube, photovoltaic cell, plant cell, plasmodium, prison,
   prison camp, prisonhouse, privacy, procaryotic cell, protoplasm,
   recess, reform school, reformatory, reticulum, retreat, ring, room,
   sanctum, sanctum sanctorum, secret place, set, soft phototube,
   somatic cell, sponging house, stall, state prison, stockade,
   syncytium, the hole, tollbooth, training school, trophoplasm,
   vacuum phototube, vault, we-group

	

	cell
     
         ATM's term for a packet.
     
        (1996-08-21)

	

	CELL. A small room in a prison. See Dungeon.