from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Stigma \Stig"ma\, n.; pl. E. {Stigmas}, L. {Stigmata}. [L., a
mark, a brand, from Gr. ?, ?, the prick or mark of a pointed
instrument, a spot, mark, from ? to prick, to brand. See
{Stick}, v. t.]
1. A mark made with a burning iron; a brand.
[1913 Webster]
2. Any mark of infamy or disgrace; sign of moral blemish;
stain or reproach caused by dishonorable conduct;
reproachful characterization.
[1913 Webster]
The blackest stigma that can be fastened upon him.
--Bp. Hall.
[1913 Webster]
All such slaughters were from thence called
Bartelmies, simply in a perpetual stigma of that
butchery. --Sir G. Buck.
[1913 Webster]
3. (Bot.) That part of a pistil which has no epidermis, and
is fitted to receive the pollen. It is usually the
terminal portion, and is commonly somewhat glutinous or
viscid. See Illust. of {Stamen} and of {Flower}.
[1913 Webster]
4. (Anat.) A small spot, mark, scar, or a minute hole; --
applied especially to a spot on the outer surface of a
Graafian follicle, and to spots of intercellular substance
in scaly epithelium, or to minute holes in such spots.
[1913 Webster]
5. (Pathol.) A red speck upon the skin, produced either by
the extravasation of blood, as in the bloody sweat
characteristic of certain varieties of religious ecstasy,
or by capillary congestion, as in the case of drunkards.
[1913 Webster]
6. (Zool.)
(a) One of the external openings of the tracheae of
insects, myriapods, and other arthropods; a spiracle.
(b) One of the apertures of the pulmonary sacs of
arachnids. See Illust. of {Scorpion}.
(c) One of the apertures of the gill of an ascidian, and
of Amphioxus.
[1913 Webster]
7. (Geom.) A point so connected by any law whatever with
another point, called an index, that as the index moves in
any manner in a plane the first point or stigma moves in a
determinate way in the same plane.
[1913 Webster]
8. pl. (R. C. Ch.) Marks believed to have been supernaturally
impressed upon the bodies of certain persons in imitation
of the wounds on the crucified body of Christ. See def. 5,
above.
[1913 Webster]