RECEPTACLE


Meaning of RECEPTACLE in English

rə̇ˈseptə̇kəl, rēˈ-, -tēk- noun

( -s )

Etymology: Latin receptaculum, from receptare (iterative of recipere to receive) + -culum, suffix denoting an instrument — more at receive

1. : one that receives and contains something : container , repository

a metal receptacle to catch the sap — Hamilton Basso

the poet's mind is in fact a receptacle for seizing and storing up numberless feelings — T.S.Eliot

2. : a place of shelter

palatial gloomy chambers for parade … never constructed as receptacles — Robert Browning

3.

a. : an intercellular cavity containing oil, resin, or other secretion products

b. : the end of the flower stalk upon which the floral organs are borne and which is often somewhat enlarged (as in the composites) — called also torus

c. : an organized often stalked structure in a cryptogamous plant containing reproductive bodies : a modified branch bearing sporangia: as

(1) : a swollen tip of a thallus branch of a seaweed (as of the genus Fucus )

(2) : any of various envelopes or structures supporting the fructification of a fungus

(3) : an umbrella-shaped outgrowth of the thallus of various liverworts (as of the genus Marchantia ) that bears the sex organs : cupule

(4) : placenta 2b

4. : a permanently mounted female electrical fitting that contains the live parts of the circuit

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.