white blood cell

noun

any of various nearly colorless cells of the immune system that circulate mainly in the blood and lymph and participate in reactions to invading microorganisms or foreign particles, comprising the B cells, T cells, macrophages, monocytes, and granulocytes.

Also called leukocyte, white blood corpuscle, white corpuscle, white cell.

Origin

1885-90

Examples from the web for white blood cells

Kicking them out if no more feasible nor desirable than purging your body of white blood cells.
Somewhere on that segment, he reasoned, was a gene crucial to preventing white blood cells from becoming cancerous.
And the immune system can constantly regenerate and circulate new white blood cells to broaden its diversity still further.
But the researchers found that white blood cells produced in response to the vaccine were defective.
The fusion of tumor cells with white blood cells may be the secret behind how cancer spreads around the body.
When the body contracts a new virus or bacteria, specific white blood cells-T lymphocytes-are recruited to fight back.
Moreover, the experiment delivered two cloned pups from the genetic material contained in fully formed white blood cells.
Equally worrying is another of its side effects: a sometimes fatal lowered count of white blood cells that are called neutrophils.
It also uses some of that machinery, such as infection-fighting white blood cells, to spread itself throughout the body.
The philosophy of white blood cells: this is self, this is nonself.

British Dictionary definitions for white blood cells

white blood cell

noun

a nontechnical name for leucocyte

white blood cells in Medicine

white blood cell n.
Abbr. WBC
Any of the colorless or white cells in the blood that have a nucleus and cytoplasm and help protect the body from infection and disease through specialized neutrophils, lymphocytes, and monocytes. Also called leukocyte, white corpuscle.

white blood cells in Science

white blood cell

(wīt)
Any of various white or colorless cells in the blood of vertebrate animals, many of which participate in the inflammatory and immune responses to protect the body against infection and to repair injuries to tissues. White blood cells are formed mainly in the bone marrow, and unlike red blood cells, have a cell nucleus. The major types of white blood cells are granulocytes, lymphocytes, and monocytes. White blood cells are far less numerous in the blood than red blood cells, but their amount usually increases in response to infection and can be monitored as part of a clinical assessment. Also called leukocyte.

white blood cells in Culture

white blood cells definition

Colorless cells in the blood that help combat infection. Some white blood cells act as scavengers by engulfing foreign particles (such as bacteria) and destroying them. Others produce antibodies or destroy dead cells. (See AIDS.)