informal short form of cell phone; a mobile telephone
Can you hand me my cell? I left it on the couch.
Her cell died, so she borrowed a friend’s charger.
✦ Abbreviation of “cellular phone,” first popular in the United States in the 1980s.
the smallest living part of an animal or plant that can work on its own
Under the microscope, the scientist could see that each cell had a tiny nucleus.
Blood cells carry oxygen around the body.
✦ From Latin “cella” meaning small room or storeroom, later applied to biology when microscopes revealed tiny compartments in living tissue.
a small room in a prison or monastery, usually for one person
The guard locked the prisoner inside his cell for the night.
The monk prayed silently in his simple cell at dawn.
✦ From Latin “cella” meaning storeroom or small room.
one box in a table or spreadsheet where you can enter data
Click the top-left cell to select the entire sheet.
Type the formula in cell C3 to add the numbers above.
✦ Borrowed from the biological sense: early spreadsheet designers used the idea of many small compartments holding separate information.
one part of a battery that produces electricity
A single AA battery contains one electrochemical cell.
Solar panels convert sunlight into electricity using many tiny solar cells.
✦ Adopted in the 19th century when scientists noticed early batteries contained separate small compartments, which they named cells.
a small, independent group inside a larger organization, often secret
Each resistance cell worked separately so that the network could survive if one group was caught.
Police arrested a terrorist cell planning the attack.
✦ Extended figurative sense from the idea of many small rooms forming a larger structure, used politically from the early 20th century.
used to show strong approval or delight
You finished the project early? Excellent!
“I got promoted today.” — “Excellent!”
✦ Derived from the adjective “excellent” used elliptically as an exclamation since the 17th century.
to stop a computer command or process that is already running or about to run
Press the ESC key to cancel the download if it takes too long.
I accidentally clicked "print" but quickly canceled the job before wasting paper.
(of two equal but opposite things) to remove each other’s effect so that nothing changes
In the equation, the positive and negative terms cancel each other.
The extra income will cancel the recent rise in rent, leaving our budget the same.
