Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A small white or yellowish cystic mass filled with keratin that is just below the epidermis, most commonly on the eyelids or nose, or on the roof of the mouth.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A genus of grasses of the tribe Agrostideæ and the subtribe Stipeæ, characterized by an ovoid glume, rigid or hardened about the caryopsis, and an awn-less flowering glume.
  • noun [lowercase] In pathology, an affection of the sebaceous glands, caused by retention of their secretion in the form of pearly or yellowish-white little globular bodies embedded in the skin and projecting slightly above its surface.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a small whitish lump in the skin due to a clogged sebaceous gland

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, millet, from Latin; see melə- in Indo-European roots.]

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  • "In pathology, an affection of the sebaceous glands, caused by retention of their secretion in the form of pearly or yellowish-white little globular bodies embedded in the skin and projecting slightly above its surface."

    - From the Century Dictionary

    July 19, 2010