ectoplasm

ectoplasm
ectoplasmic, ectoplasmatic /ek'teuh plaz mat"ik/, adj.
/ek"teuh plaz'euhm/, n.
1. Biol. the outer portion of the cytoplasm of a cell. Cf. endoplasm.
2. Spiritualism. the supposed emanation from the body of a medium.
[1880-85; ECTO- + -PLASM]

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      in occultism, a mysterious, usually light-coloured, viscous substance that is said to exude from the body of a spiritualist medium in trance and may then take the shape of a face, a hand, or a complete body. It is normally visible only in the darkened atmosphere of a séance (q.v.). Ectoplasm is said to be the substance involved in the materialization of spiritual bodies, and the levitation of material objects is commonly explained by the gradual buildup of columns of ectoplasm underneath the objects. At the end of a séance the ectoplasm disappears, allegedly by returning to the medium's body.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • ectoplasm — 1883, of amoebas, 1901, of spirits, from ECTO (Cf. ecto ) + plasm (see PLASMA (Cf. plasma)) …   Etymology dictionary

  • ectoplasm — ► NOUN ▪ a viscous substance that supposedly exudes from the body of a medium during a spiritualistic trance and forms the material for the manifestation of spirits. DERIVATIVES ectoplasmic adjective …   English terms dictionary

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  • ectoplasm — noun Date: 1883 1. the outer relatively rigid granule free layer of the cytoplasm usually held to be a gel reversibly convertible to a sol 2. a substance held to produce spirit materialization and telekinesis • ectoplasmic adj …   New Collegiate Dictionary

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