capsule Definition

capsule
noun

1. A hard or soft soluble case, usually made of gelatine, containing a single dose of a powdered drug to be taken orally.
2. A small spacecraft or a compartment within a spacecraft that houses the instruments and crew for the duration of a space flight.

Form: space capsule (also)
3. anatomy.
A membranous sheath, sac or other structure that surrounds an organ or tissue, eg the capsule that surrounds the lens of the eye or the moving parts of a joint.
4. bot.
In some flowering plants, eg poppy: a dry dehiscent fruit, formed by the fusion of two or more carpels, that splits open to release its many seeds.
5. biol.
The gelatinous envelope of protein or polysaccharide that surrounds and protects certain bacteria.

Derivative: capsular
adj

Etymology: 17c: French, from Latin capsula, diminutive of capsa box.