SERUM (sera)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: sera   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does serum mean? 

• SERUM (noun)
  The noun SERUM has 1 sense:

1. an amber, watery fluid, rich in proteins, that separates out when blood coagulates

  Familiarity information: SERUM used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SERUM (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An amber, watery fluid, rich in proteins, that separates out when blood coagulates

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Synonyms:

blood serum; serum

Hypernyms ("serum" is a kind of...):

bodily fluid; body fluid; humor; humour; liquid body substance (the liquid parts of the body)

Meronyms (substance of "serum"):

serum albumin (albumin occurring in blood serum; serves to maintain the somatic pressure of the blood)

serum globulin (globulins occurring in blood serum and containing most of the antibodies of the blood)

opsonin (an antibody in blood serum that attaches to invading microorganisms and other antigens to make them more susceptible to the action of phagocytes)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "serum"):

antiserum (blood serum containing antibodies against specific antigens; provides immunity to a disease)

milk whey; whey (the serum or watery part of milk that is separated from the curd in making cheese)

Holonyms ("serum" is a substance of...):

blood (the fluid (red in vertebrates) that is pumped through the body by the heart and contains plasma, blood cells, and platelets)

Derivation:

serous (of or producing or containing serum)

 Context examples 

Serum from blood that contains antibodies that bind to human T cells.

(Anti-Thymocyte Globulin, NCI Dictionary)

An X-linked urea cycle metabolic disorder characterized by deficiency of ornithine carbamoyltransferase, resulting in the accumulation of amino acids and ammonia in the serum.

(Ornithine Carbamoyltransferase Deficiency Disease, NCI Thesaurus)

It is thus an established serum marker for breast cancer.

(Mucin Peptide MUC-1, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

The diagnosis can be missed because of the absence of monoclonal immunoglobulin in the serum or urine.

(Non-Secretory Myeloma, NCI Thesaurus)

Also called serum glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase and SGOT.

(Aspartate transaminase, NCI Dictionary)

It is a serum marker for breast cancer.

(Mucin Peptide MUC-1, NCI Thesaurus)

A primary disturbance in immunoglobulin synthesis characterized by serum that contains two distinct monoclonal immunoglobulins.

(Biclonal Gammopathy, NCI Thesaurus)

Oh, qu' elle y sera mal—peu comfortable!

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

It is characterized by the presence of neoplastic epithelial cells that produce fluid similar to serum.

(Pancreatic Serous Neoplasm, NCI Thesaurus)

Anacetrapib reduces the transfer of cholesteryl ester from HDL to LDL and/or VLDL thereby, producing an increase in serum HDL-cholesterol levels and a decrease in serum LDL-cholesterol levels.

(Anacetrapib, NCI Thesaurus)