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Webster 1913 Edition


Laboratory

Lab′o-ra-to-ry

,
Noun.
;
pl.
Laboratories
(#)
.
[Shortened fr.
elaboratory
; cf. OF.
elaboratoire
, F.
laboratoire
. See
Elaborate
,
Labor.
]
[Formerly written also
elaboratory
.]
1.
The workroom of a chemist; also, a place devoted to experiments in any branch of natural science;
as, a chemical, physical, or biological
laboratory
. Hence, by extension, a place where something is prepared, or some operation is performed;
as, the liver is the
laboratory
of the bile
.

Webster 1828 Edition


Laboratory

LAB'ORATORY

, n.
1.
A house or place where operations and experiments in chimistry, pharmacy, pyrotechny, &c., are performed.
2.
A place where arms are manufactured or repaired, or fire-works prepared; as the laboratory in Springfield, in Massachusetts.
3.
A place where work is performed, or any thing is prepared for use. Hence the stomach is called the grand laboratory of the human body; the liver, the laboratory of the bile.

Definition 2024


laboratory

laboratory

English

Alternative forms

Noun

laboratory (plural laboratories)

  1. A room, building or institution equipped for scientific research, experimentation or analysis.
  2. A place where chemicals, drugs or microbes are prepared or manufactured.
    • 2014 June 21, Magician’s brain”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8892:
      [Isaac Newton] was obsessed with alchemy. He spent hours copying alchemical recipes and trying to replicate them in his laboratory. He believed that the Bible contained numerological codes.

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