thecan.

Brit.

/ˈθiːkə/, U.S.

/ˈθikə/

Forms: Plural thecæ /ˈθiːsiː/.

Etymology: Latin, < Greek θήκη case, cover.

1. A receptacle, a cell; spec. (Christian Church) = burse n. 1b.

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > relative position > condition of being external > enclosing or enclosure > [noun] > an enclosed space or place > compartment or chamber

chambera1398

cellulea1400

partition1465

traversea1500

cell1577

concameration1638

apartment1679

thecaa1680

partitionment1851

compartment1866

cube1937

cubicle1938

a1680 J. Bargrave Pope Alexander VII (1867) ii. 121 Some of these underground streets were for their burials,..the corps were..immuralld in thecas, or, as it were, in hollow shelves dug into the wall.

1682 tr. J. Goedaert Of Insects 95 In this Nest they [Bees] make a Theca, or small Cell... Every Bee lays 9. little Worms in this Theca, or Cell.

2. Botany. A part of a plant serving as a receptacle; a sac, cell, or capsule; spec. (a) an anther cell, containing pollen; (b) a vessel containing spores in various cryptogamous plants, as the capsule of a moss, the sporangium of a fern, or the fructification in certain lichens.

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > part of plant > part defined by form or function > [noun] > sheath

hosea1450

socket1657

sheath1672

theca1682

vagina1698

sheaf1766

1682 N. Grew Anat. Plants iv. ii. iii. 168 These Parts [sc. anthers] are all hollow; each being the Theca or Case of a great many extream small Particles.

1829 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Plants 874 Musci... Thecæ many-seeded, solitary, furnished with an operculum and columella.

1829 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Plants Gloss. 1106/1 Thecæ, the cases that contain the sporules of Cryptogamic plants.

1830 J. Lindley Introd. Nat. Syst. Bot. 307 Sporules, which are enclosed in particular cases called thecæ.

1880 A. Gray Struct. Bot. vi. §6 251 The best technical name for anther-sac is that of Theca.

1897 J. C. Willis Man. Flowering Plants I. 77 The anther has typically two main lobes or thecae.

a. Zoology and Anatomy. A case or sheath enclosing some organ or part: as (a) the horny case of an insect pupa; (b) the loose sheath investing the spinal cord; (c) one of the fibrous sheaths in which the digital tendons glide; (d) the sheath of the proboscis of dipterous insects; (e) a cup-like or tubular structure in corals, containing a polyp.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > eggs or young > [noun] > young or development of young > pupa or chrysalis > case or puparium

kexc1600

theca1665

ring-coffin1702

coffin1712

puparium1815

pupa case1826

hull1878

the world > life > the body > bodily substance > membrane > [noun]

rimeOE

hameOE

skina1398

caul1398

shrine1398

tunicle1398

panniclea1400

pelliculea1400

slougha1400

membrane?a1425

pellicle?a1425

pellet?1440

enfolder1545

kell1545

involucre1578

skinlet1598

striffena1612

swathe1615

veil1639

tunic1661

swath-band1668

involucruma1676

wall1682

panniculus1702

theca1807

the world > life > the body > structural parts > bone or bones > spine > [noun] > sheath of

theca1899

1665 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 1 89 It becomes a Papilio or Butter~fly, in the Theca or Case.

1671 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 6 2099 Some of these Maggots I took out of their Theca or bagg.

1807 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 17 308 The theca or sheath which encloses the femoral artery, nerve and vein.

1826 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. III. xxxiv. 467 In all [mouths of Dipterous insects], the theca or sheath is present.

1840 E. Wilson Anatomist's Vade Mecum (1851) 239 In the thecæ of the fingers several small tendinous fasciculi are generally found.

1875 T. H. Huxley in Encycl. Brit. I. 130/2 In the simple aporose corals the calcification of the base and side walls of the body gives rise to the cup or theca.

1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VII. 536 The water-cushion which surrounds the cord within the spinal theca.

b. In full theca folliculi. A layer of hormonally active cells enclosing a tertiary (vesicular) or a mature (Graafian) ovarian follicle, consisting of an inner, vascular layer ( theca interna) and an outer, fibrous layer ( theca externa). [So named in German by C. E. von Baer ( Über Entwickelungsgeschichte der Thiere (1837) II. iii. xv. 23).]

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > biology > biological processes > procreation or reproduction > reproductive substances or cells > [noun] > ovum or ootid > Graafian follicle, etc.

corpus luteum1788

ovarian follicle1834

Graafian follicle1841

theca folliculi1857

corona radiata1869

stigma1890

1857 R. Dunglison Med. Lexicon (rev. ed.) 400/1 Folliculi Graafiani, small spherical vesicles in the stroma of the ovary, which have at least two coats; the outer termed ovicapsule..and theca folliculi.

1859 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. V. 551/1 The external or vascular coat [of the Graafian follicle]..constitutes the tunic of the ovisac of Barry, the tunica fibrosa, S. theca folliculi of Baer.

1929 Anatomical Rec. XLIII. 242 The cells of either the granulosa or the theca have become luteinized.

1930 A. A. Maximow & W. Bloom Text-bk. Histol. xxxii. 640 There is no sharp limit between the two layers of the theca or between the theca externa and the stroma.

1966 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. (rev. ed.) XI. 474/1 A growing follicle has several layers of follicular cells, or granulosa cells.., and a surrounding capsule of connective tissue, the theca folliculi.

1978 D. B. Wilson & E. Wilson Human Anat. xvi. 388/2 The inner layer is the theca interna, which secretes the hormone estrogen into the vascular system.

Compounds

theca cell tumour n. Pathology an oestrogen-secreting ovarian tumour that consists of cells resembling those of the theca folliculi and is sometimes malignant; = thecoma n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > reproductive organ disorders > [noun] > of female > disorders of ovary

oophoritis1833

ovaritis1841

oaritis1848

peri-oophoritis1883

paroophoritis1890

atresia1903

theca cell tumour1937

thecoma1937

1937 Amer. Jrnl. Obstetr. & Gynecol. 34 988 It was not until 1932 that the last member of this interesting group of tumors was reported by Loeffler and Priesel, to which they gave the name of ‘fibroma theca cellulare xanthomatodes ovarii’, more commonly known as the theca cell tumor.

1974 R. Passmore & J. S. Robson Compan. Med. Stud. III. xxviii. 50/1 Luteinization of the cells of granulosa cell and theca cell tumours may occur.

Derivatives

ˈthecal adj. of, pertaining to, or of the nature of a theca.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > the body > bodily substance > membrane > [adjective]

panniculara1400

webbya1425

membraneous1578

filmy1583

membranous1598

cauly1615

membranaceous1678

membranulous1705

pelliceous1732

membraniform1828

thecal1847

pellicular1853

membranoid1857

thecigerous1860

adventitial1872

theciform1877

thecate1891

theciferous1891

velamentous1891

1847 R. Druitt Surgeon's Vade Mecum (ed. 4) 544 The tendinous whitlow, or thecal abscess.

1861 J. R. Greene Man. Animal Kingdom II. 160 A thecal corallum, in other Actinozoa, at length comes to be formed.

1876 C. S. Tomes Man. Dental Anat. 107 The tissue whence the dentine papillæ arise blends insensibly with that making up the substance of the thecal fold.

1877 T. H. Huxley Man. Anat. Invertebrated Animals iii. 159 The thecal canals of the Millepores.

ˈthecate adj. having a theca, sheathed.

ΘΚΠ