pollen

[pol-uh n] /ˈpɒl ən/

noun

the fertilizing element of flowering plants, consisting of fine, powdery, yellowish grains or spores, sometimes in masses.

verb (used with object)

to pollinate.

Origin

1515-25; < Neo-Latin, special use of Latin: fine flour, mill dust

Related forms

pollenless, adjective

pollenlike, adjective

pollinic

[puh-lin-ik] /pəˈlɪn ɪk/ (Show IPA), pollinical, adjective

unpollened, adjective

Examples from the web for pollen

Thus in plants, the office of the pistil is to allow the pollen-tubes to reach the ovules within the ovarium.
Its baskets were full of pollen, and it did not move.
Some folks use a cotton swab to transfer pollen between flowers.
As the moth sucks up the nutrient-rich nectar from the orchid, packets of pollen stick to its body.
He creates a city invasion of electro-pollen particles.
It is possible that pollen was transferred in this altercation.
In the case of the bucket orchids, its strong scent attracts bees that then slip into its pollen-filled bucket.
The plants need the bats to spread their pollen, so it's kind of a win-win.
The city's researchers first turned to the usual suspects, such as air pollution, pollen and mould.
The sun is shining, the birds are chirping and the pollen count is low.

British Dictionary definitions for pollen

pollen

/ˈpɒlən/

noun

a fine powdery substance produced by the anthers of seed-bearing plants, consisting of numerous fine grains containing the male gametes

Derived Forms

pollinic (pəˈlɪnɪk) adjective

Word Origin

C16: from Latin: powder; compare Greek palē pollen

Pollen

/ˈpɒlən/

noun

Daniel. 1813–96, New Zealand statesman, born in Ireland: prime minister of New Zealand (1876)

Word Origin and History for pollen

1760 as a botanical term for the fertilizing element of flowers (from Linnæus, 1751), earlier "fine flour" (1520s), from Latin pollen "mill dust; fine flour," related to polenta "peeled barley," and pulvis (genitive pulveris) "dust," from PIE root *pel- (1) "dust; flour" (cf. Greek poltos "pap, porridge," Sanskrit pálalam "ground seeds," Lithuanian pelenai, Old Church Slavonic popelu, Russian pépelŭ "ashes").

pollen in Medicine

pollen pol·len (pŏl'ən)
n.
Microspores of seed plants carried by wind or insects prior to fertilization.

pollen in Science

pollen

(pŏl'ən)
Powdery grains that contain the male reproductive cells of most plants. In gymnosperms, pollen is produced by male cones or conelike structures. In angiosperms, pollen is produced by the anthers at the end of stamens in flowers. Each pollen grain contains a generative cell, which divides into two nuclei (one of which fertilizes the egg), and a tube cell, which grows into a pollen tube to conduct the generative cell or the nuclei into the ovule. The pollen grain is the male gametophyte generation of seed-bearing plants. In gymnosperms, each pollen grain also contains two sterile cells (called prothallial cells), thought to be remnants of the vegetative tissue of the male gametophyte.

pollen in Culture

pollen definition

The male sex cells in plants. In flowering plants, pollen is produced in thin filaments in the flower called stamens. (See fertilization and pollination.)

Note: When pollen is carried into the air by the wind, it frequently causes allergic reactions (see allergy) in humans.