[a. L. cistula dim. of cista box, basket.]

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  † 1.  gen. A little cist. Obs.

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1699.  Phil. Trans., XXI. 61. The Eggs of some Fish, which produces or breeds them in a little Cistula or Bag.

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  2.  in Catoptrics (see quot.).

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1751.  Chambers, Cycl., Catoptric Cistula, a machine, or apparatus, whereby little bodies are represented extremely large; and near ones extremely wide … by means of mirrours, disposed … in the concavity of a kind of chest.

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  3.  Bot. The small cup-shaped conceptacle of certain lichens. (Syd. Soc. Lex.)

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