cell

Everyday

1. A cell is the smallest living part of a plant or animal; all living things are made of cells. tree →
2. A cell is a small room where a prisoner is kept. tree →
3. A cell is a battery, a single unit that makes electricity. tree →
4. A cell is one small box in a table or spreadsheet. tree →
5. A cell (cell phone, American) is a mobile phone. tree →
6. A cell can also be a small room where a monk, nun or hermit lives alone. tree →

In the lessons

In science, cells are tiny and seen with a microscope; plant cells have a cell wall and chloroplasts, animal cells do not. Your body has trillions of cells: blood cells, skin cells, nerve cells. In electricity, a cell pushes current around a circuit; several cells make a battery. In maths and computing, a table is made of rows, columns and cells. In bees' honeycomb, each hole is a cell. Phrases: blood cells, plant cell, cell wall, prison cell, cell phone, solar cell.

Examples

• All living things are made of cells. tree →
• We looked at onion cells under a microscope. tree →
• Red blood cells carry oxygen. tree →
• The prisoner sat alone in his cell. tree →
• Add another cell to make the bulb brighter. tree →
• Write the total in the last cell of the table. tree →
• Bees store honey in wax cells. tree →
• "But one thing more," said the Wise Woman, going back to her cell. tree →

Note

Do not confuse cell with "sell" (give for money) — same sound. In science, "battery" is strictly two or more cells together, though people often call one cell a battery. In a table, each cell holds one value.

In Jewish tradition

Here it means a small chamber, either a prison room or a guard room beside a gate in Ezekiel's vision of the Temple.

Interpretation. Jeremiah's cell shows the prophet suffering for speaking God's word. Ezekiel's gate-cells are read as part of the visionary Temple plan, whose exact measures the sages saw as holy.

Examples

• When Jeremiah was come into the dungeon-house, and into the cells, and Jeremiah had remained there many days; (Prophets JER.37.16, JPS 1917) tree →
• And he measured the gate from the roof of the one cell to the roof of the other, a breadth of five and twenty cubits; door against door. (Prophets EZK.40.13, JPS 1917) tree →
• the cells thereof, the posts thereof, and the arches thereof; and there were windows therein round about; the length was fifty cubits, and the breadth five and twenty cubits. (Prophets EZK.40.36, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Do not confuse cell with "sell" (give for money) — same sound. In science, "battery" is strictly two or more cells together, though people often call one cell a battery. In a table, each cell holds one value.