[par.ti.cle] n [ME, fr. L particula, fr. dim. of part-, pars] (14c) 1 a: a minute quantity or fragment b: a relatively small or the smallest discrete portion or amount of something
2. archaic: a clause or article of a composition or document
3: any of the basic units of matter and energy (as a molecule, atom, proton, electron, or photon)
4: a unit of speech expressing some general aspect of meaning or some connective or limiting relation and including the articles, most prepositions and conjunctions, and some interjections and adverbs "the ~ up has a perfective meaning in phrases such as beat up and cut up"
5: a small eucharistic wafer distributed to a Roman Catholic layman at Communion