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Stigma   /stˈɪgmə/   Listen
noun
Stigma  n.  (pl. E. stigmas, L. stigmata)  
1.
A mark made with a burning iron; a brand.
2.
Any mark of infamy or disgrace; sign of moral blemish; stain or reproach caused by dishonorable conduct; reproachful characterization. "The blackest stigma that can be fastened upon him." "All such slaughters were from thence called Bartelmies, simply in a perpetual stigma of that butchery."
3.
(Bot.) That part of a pistil which has no epidermis, and is fitted to receive the pollen. It is usually the terminal portion, and is commonly somewhat glutinous or viscid.
4.
(Anat.) A small spot, mark, scar, or a minute hole; applied especially to a spot on the outer surface of a Graafian follicle, and to spots of intercellular substance in scaly epithelium, or to minute holes in such spots.
5.
(Pathol.) A red speck upon the skin, produced either by the extravasation of blood, as in the bloody sweat characteristic of certain varieties of religious ecstasy, or by capillary congestion, as in the case of drunkards.
6.
(Zool.)
(a)
One of the external openings of the tracheae of insects, myriapods, and other arthropods; a spiracle.
(b)
One of the apertures of the pulmonary sacs of arachnids.
(c)
One of the apertures of the gill of an ascidian, and of Amphioxus.
7.
(Geom.) A point so connected by any law whatever with another point, called an index, that as the index moves in any manner in a plane the first point or stigma moves in a determinate way in the same plane.
8.
pl. (R. C. Ch.) Marks believed to have been supernaturally impressed upon the bodies of certain persons in imitation of the wounds on the crucified body of Christ. See def. 5, above.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Stigma" Quotes from Famous Books



... remaining here now would accomplish nothing. Others will discover the body and give it proper care. But, oh, God! do you realize what it will inevitably mean for us to be discovered here?—the disgrace, the stigma, the probability of arrest and conviction, the ruthless exposure of everything? I plead with you to think of all this, and no longer hesitate. We have no time for that. Leave here with me before it becomes too late. I believe I know a way out, and there is opportunity if we move quickly. But the ...
— Beth Norvell - A Romance of the West • Randall Parrish

... prejudice, possesses considerable interest: and it must be admitted, that with respect to the internal improvement of the country, his strictures have hitherto had but too much foundation, though the schemes of the present governor-general, if carried into effect, will go far to remove the stigma from the Anglo-Indian rulers. After contrasting, in a conversation with an English friend, the expedition of legal proceedings under the Moslem rule, with the slow process of the English courts in India, to be finally remedied only by the endless ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 54, No. 338, December 1843 • Various

... of fools. It's a mortal pestilence, a miasmic vapor that passes, like a blast from hell, over the face of the world and is gone forever. It may leave death in its wake and disaster dire; it may place on the brow of purity the brand of the courtesan and cover the hero with the stigma of the coward; it may wreck hopes and ruin homes, cause blood to flow and hearts to break; it may pollute the altar and disgrace the throne, corrupt the courts and curse the land, but the lie cannot live forever, and when it's ...
— Volume 12 of Brann The Iconoclast • William Cowper Brann

... more than a foot long. How did this arise? We begin with the fact, proved experimentally by Mr. Darwin, that moths do visit Orchids, do thrust their spiral trunks into the nectaries, and do fertilize them by carrying the pollinia of one flower to the stigma of another. He has further explained the exact mechanism by which this is effected, and the Duke of Argyll admits the accuracy of his observations. In our British species, such as Orchis pyramidalis, ...
— Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection - A Series of Essays • Alfred Russel Wallace

... an indignity to row in an umiak, the large boat used by women. The different offices of husband and wife are also clearly distinguished; for example, when he has brought his booty to land it would be a stigma on his character if he so much as drew a seal ashore, and generally it is regarded as scandalous for a man to interfere with what is the work of women. In British Guiana cooking is the province of the women, as elsewhere; on one occasion when the men were compelled perforce to bake some ...
— Sex and Society • William I. Thomas


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