Nat. Hist. Pl. aciculæ. [L., dimin. of acus a needle. Incorrect variants are aciculum, aciculus.] A technical name for a slender needle-like body, such as the spines or prickles with which some animals and plants are furnished, or the needle-like crystals of certain minerals; ‘the bristle-like abortive flower of a grass.’ Lindley, Treas. Bot.
1875. J. W. Dawson, Dawn of Life, iv. 87. This fringe … is … made up of a multitude of extremely delicate aciculi, standing side by side like the fibres of asbestos.
1858. W. Clark, trans. Van der Hoeven’s Zool., I. 231. Body round, with 4 rows of double aciculæ.
1877. Huxley, Anat. Inv. An., v. 229. The neuropodial is very much longer than the notopodial aciculum.
