WHITE BLOOD CELL: any of the blood cells that are colorless, lack hemoglobin, contain a nucleus, and include the lymphocytes, monocytes, neutrophils, eosinophils, and basophils -- called also leukocyte, white blood corpuscle, white cell, white corpuscle.
LYMPHOCYTE: any of the colorless weakly motile cells that originate from stem cells and differentiate in lymphoid tissue (as of the thymus or bone marrow), that are the typical cellular elements of lymph, that include the cellular mediators of immunity, and that constitute 20 to 30% of the white blood cells of normal human blood.
MONOOCYTE: a large white blood cell with finely granulated chromatin dispersed throughout the nucleus that is formed in the bone marrow, enters the blood, and migrates into the connective tissue where it differentiates into a macrophage. Macrophage: a phagocytic tissue cell of mononuclear phagocyte system that may be fixed or freely motile, is derived from a monocyte, and functions in the protection of the body against infection and noxious substances.
NEUTROPHIL: a granulocyte that is the chief phagocytic white blood cell.
EOSINOPHIL: a white blood cell or other granulocyte with cytoplasmic inclusions readily stained by eosin.
BASOPHIL: a basophilic substance or structure; especially : a white blood cell with basophilic granules that is similar in function to a mast cell. Basophilic: staining readily with or being a basic stain.
PHAGOCYTE: a cell (as a white blood cell) that engulfs and consumes foreign material (as microorganisms) and debris.
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