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Webster 1913 Edition

Gland

Gland

,
Noun.
[F.
glande
, L.
glans
,
glandis
, acorn; akin to Gr. [GREEK] for [GREEK], and [GREEK] to cast, throw, the acorn being the dropped fruit. Cf.
Parable
,
Noun.
]
1.
(Anat.)
(a)
An organ for secreting something to be used in, or eliminated from, the body;
as, the sebaceous
glands
of the skin; the salivary
glands
of the mouth.
(b)
An organ or part which resembles a secreting, or true, gland, as the ductless, lymphatic, pineal, and pituitary
glands
, the functions of which are very imperfectly known.
☞ The true secreting glands are, in principle, narrow pouches of the mucous membranes, or of the integument, lined with a continuation of the epithelium, or of the epidermis, the cells of which produce the secretion from the blood. In the larger glands, the pouches are tubular, greatly elongated, and coiled, as in the sweat glands, or subdivided and branched, making compound and racemose glands, such as the pancreas.
2.
(Bot.)
(a)
A special organ of plants, usually minute and globular, which often secretes some kind of resinous, gummy, or aromatic product.
(b)
Any very small prominence.
3.
(Steam Mach.)
The movable part of a stuffing box by which the packing is compressed; – sometimes called a
follower
. See Illust. of
Stuffing box
, under
Stuffing
.
4.
(Mach.)
The crosspiece of a bayonet clutch.

Webster 1828 Edition

Gland

GLAND

,
Noun.
[L. glans, a nut; glandula, a gland.]
1.
In anatomy, a distinct soft body, formed by the convolution of a great number of vessels, either constituting a part of the lymphatic system, or destined to secrete some fluid from the blood. Glands have been divided into conglobate and conglomerate, from their structure; but a more proper division is into lymphatic and secretory. The former are found in the course of the lymphatic vessels, and are conglobate. The latter are of various structure. They include the mucous follicles, the conglomerate glands, properly so called, such as the parotid glands and the pancreas, the liver, kidneys, &c. The term has also been applied to other bodies of a similar appearance, neither lymphatic nor secretory; such as the thymus and thyroid glands, whose use is not certainly known, certain portions of the brain, as the pineal
and pituitary glands, &c. [See Conglobate and Conglomerate.]
2.
In botany, a gland or glandule is an excretory or secretory duct or vessel in a plant. Glands are found on the leaves, petioles, peduncles and stipules.

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