1. A small knoblike prominence or excrescence, whether natural or morbid; as, a tubercle on a plant; a tubercle on a bone; the tubercles appearing on the body in leprosy.
2. (Med.)
Defn: A small mass or aggregation of morbid matter; especially, the deposit which accompanies scrofula or phthisis. This is composed of a hard, grayish, or yellowish, translucent or opaque matter, which gradually softens, and excites suppuration in its vicinity. It is most frequently found in the lungs, causing consumption. Tubercle bacillus (Med.), a minute vegetable organism (Bacillus tuberculosis) discovered by Koch, a German physician, in the sputum of consumptive patients and in tuberculous tissue, and believed to be the exciting cause of tubercles and tuberculosis.
TUBERCLED
Tu"ber*cled, a.
Defn: Having tubercles; affected with, tubercles; tuberculate; as, a tubercled lung or stalk.
TUBERCULAR
Tu*ber"cu*lar, a.
1. Having tubercles; affected with tubercles; tubercled; tuberculate.
2. Like a tubercle; as, a tubercular excrescence.
3. (Med.)
Defn: Characterized by the development of tubercles; as, tubercular diathesis.