membrane (membran)

[F. membrane = Sp. Pg. It. membrana, or membrane that covers the several members of the body, the thin skin of plants, a skin parchment (> Gr. μεμβράνα, parchment), cover, surface, little or no reference to the kind of ti ue which may be concerned, the membranous quality depending upon thinne and pliability, not upon texture or fabric. No hard parts, as bone and cartilage, come within the definition of membrane. Most membranes are fibrous-that is, consist wholly or in part of some form of connective ti ue, in or on which may be other and more special form-elements, as the layers of cells peculiar to the mucous, the serous, and other special membranes. In some cases a sheet of nerve-ti ue, or of muscle-ti ue, constitutes a membrane, with little admixture of other elements. Some membranes chiefly consist of a network of blood-ve els, with little connective ti ue. Most membranes are specified by qualifying terms. See phrases following. In zool . and bot ., a component of any higher cla ificatory 2. In entom . , specifically, the membranous ter group: thus, a species is a member a genus; genus a member of a family, etc. - Borough member, in the British Parliament, a member of the House of Commons representing a borough. - County member, in the British Parliament, a member of the House of Commons representing a county or a division of a county. - Divisive members. See divisive, Syn. 1. Member, Limb. Limb is a precise term, in the human body applying to the arms and legs. We speak of the limb of a tree, but rarely apply limb to the leg of an animal. The word has little figurative use, except in science (see definition); such expre ions as " limb of the law," for a lawyer, and " limb of the devil" for a rogue, are jocose, limb being used for member or part. Member is much freer in primary and in figurative uses for an integral or distinguishable part of a whole: as, a member of a sentence, of a family, of a society, of a state. "The tongue is a little member " (James iii. 5), and so is the eye, and each of the toes, but none of them is a limb. membered (mem'bėrd), a. [