stain

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Any colored, organic compound, usually called dye, used to stain tissues, cells, cell components, or cell contents. The dye may be natural or synthetic. The object stained is called the substrate. The small size and transparency of microorganisms make them difficult to see even with the aid of a high-power microscope. Staining facilitates the observation of a substrate by introducing differences in optical density or in light absorption between the substrate and its surround or between different parts of the same substrate. In electron microscopy, and sometimes in light microscopy (as in the silver impregnation technique of staining flagella or capsules), staining is accomplished by depositing on the substrate ultraphotoscopic particles of a metal such as chromium or gold (the so-called shadowing process); or staining is done by treating the substrate with solutions of metallic compounds such as uranyl acetate or phosphotungstic acid. Stains may be classified according to their molecular structure. They may also be classified according to their chemical behavior into acid, basic, neutral, and indifferent. This classification is of more practical value to the biologist. See also Electron microscope; Medical bacteriology.

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verb

1. To soil with foreign matter: bestain, discolor, smut. See clean/dirty, marks.
2. To contaminate the reputation of: befoul, besmear, besmirch, bespatter, blacken, cloud, denigrate, dirty, smear, smudge, smut, soil, spatter, sully, taint, tarnish. Idioms: give a black eye to, slingthrowmud on. See attack/defend, clean/dirty.
3. To ruin utterly in character or quality: animalize, bastardize, bestialize, brutalize, canker, corrupt, debase, debauch, demoralize, deprave, pervert, vitiate, warp. See clean/dirty, help/harm/harmless.
4. To impart color to: color, dye, tincture, tint. See colors/colorless.

noun

1. A discolored mark made by smearing: blot, blotch, daub, smear, smirch, smudge, smutch, splotch. See marks.
2. A mark of discredit or disgrace: black eye, blemish, blot, onus, spot, stigma, taint, tarnish. Archaic attaint. Idioms: a blot on one's escutcheon. See marks, respect/contempt/standing.
3. Something that imparts color: color, colorant, coloring, dye, dyestuff, pigment, tincture. See colors/colorless.

n

Definition: dirt, blot
Antonyms: blank, cleanliness

v

Definition: dirty, taint
Antonyms: clean

1. A discoloration in the surface of wood, plastic, sealant, etc.
2. A colorant for enhancing wood grain during finishing.
3. A stainer.

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Materials used to impart color to wood.

IN BRIEF: To discolor in spots. Also: Disgrace.

Roses have thorns, and silver fountains mud; Clouds and eclipses stain both moon and sun, And loathsome canker lies in sweetest bud. All men make faults. — William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

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sign description: One closed hand begins at the mouth then moves down to the front of the shoulder as it opens.

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A procedure developed by the Danish physician Christian Gram, which uses a purplish-blue stain to differentiate bacteria types. The stain is made of a combination of crystal violet and iodine and a subsequent treatment of the cell by alcohol. The Gram test is useful in the identification of microorganisms. See Gram Negative Bacteria, Gram Positive Bacteria.

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1. a substance used to impart color to tissues or cells, to facilitate microscopic study and identification.
2. an area of discoloration of the skin.

• acid s. — a stain in which the coloring agent is in the acid radical.
• basic s. — a stain in which the coloring agent is in the basic radical.
• carbol fuschin s. — used to stain some gram-negative bacteria, including Campylobacter fetus.
• Castaneda's s. — a technique for demonstrating chlamydial elementary bodies, using formol blue and safranine.
• Diene's s. — one containing methylene blue, maltose and azure II, used for staining mycoplasmal microcolonies.
• differential s. — one which facilitates differentiation of various elements in a specimen.
• hematoxylin and eosin s. — a staining method employed universally for routine histological examination of tissue sections.
• India ink s. — used to demonstrate capsules on Cryptococcus neoformans and some bacterial species.
• lambing s. — staining of the breech and back of the udder of a ewe caused by the passage of the fetal fluids and then the lochia. Used as a guide to whether or not the ewe has lambed and perhaps lost her lamb.
• Macchiavello s. — a basic fuscin solution for staining chlamydial elementary bodies.
• metachromatic s. — one that produces in certain elements color different from that of the stain itself.
• methanamine silver s. — stains fungal elements in tissue a dark brown.
• new methylene blue s. — a metachromatic dye used for staining blood, vaginal smears, and tissue samples for cytological examination. Particularly useful in demonstrating reticulocytes.
• Newman's s. — used on smears of milk for demonstrating organisms in mastitis.
• nigrosin s. — an aniline dye used in wet mounts to demonstrate capsules, especially with cryptococcus neoformans.
• nuclear s. — one that selectively stains cell nuclei, generally a basic stain.
• ophthalmic s. — used in the diagnosis of diseases of the eye, e.g. fluorescein and rose bengal dyes.
• supravital s. — a stain introduced in living tissue or cells that have been removed from the body.
• tumor s. — an area of increased density in a radiograph, due to collection of contrast material in distorted and abnormal vessels, prominent in the capillary and venous phases of arteriography, and presumed to indicate neoplasm.
• vital s. — a stain introduced into the living organism, and taken up selectively by various tissue or cellular elements. Often used to determine the live/dead cell ratio in a cell population.
• Wright's s. — a mixture of eosin and methylene blue, used for demonstrating blood cells.
• Ziehl–Neelsen s. — one of carbol fuchsin counterstained with methylene blue; used to demonstrate acid-fast organisms, especially Mycobacterium spp., in smears and tissues. A modified method using mild acid to decolorize is used for staining Brucella spp. and Nocardia asteroides. See also acid-fast.

v

1. to discolor with foreign matter. n 2. a discoloration accumulating on the surface of a denture or teeth.

For a list of words related to stainer, see:

• Occupations and Job Titles

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See words rhyming with "stain."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Stain.

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Dansk (Danish)
v. tr. - plette, gøre beskidt, bejdse, farve, vanære
v. intr. - plette
n. - plet, farvestof, bejdse, skamplet

idioms:

• stain remover    pletfjerner
• stained glass    glasmaleri

Nederlands (Dutch)
bevlekken, kleur geven, een smet werpen op, beitsen, vlek, smet, beits, spat

Français (French)
v. tr. - tacher, (Biol, Tech) teindre
v. intr. - se tacher
n. - (lit, fig) tache, teinture

idioms:

• stain remover    détachant
• stained glass    verre coloré, vitraux

Deutsch (German)
n. - Fleck, Schandfleck, Farbstoff, Beize
v. - färben, beizen, beflecken, Flecken machen, Flecken bekommen

idioms:

• stain remover    Fleckentferner
• stained glass    Farbglas

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - κηλίδα, λεκές, χρωστική ύλη, βαφή
v. - κηλιδώνω, λεκιάζω, βάφω

idioms:

• stain remover    καθαριστικό λεκέδων
• stained glass    υαλογράφημα (βιτράιγ ή βιτρό)

Italiano (Italian)
imbrattare, tingere, macchiare, macchia, tinta

idioms:

• stained glass    vetro colorato

Português (Portuguese)
n. - mancha (f)
v. - tingir

idioms:

• stained glass    vidro colorido

Русский (Russian)
пятно, позорящий факт, краситель, пятнать, позорить, окрашивать

idioms:

• stained glass    цветное стекло, витражное стекло

Español (Spanish)
v. tr. - manchar, ensuciar, teñir, colorar, mancillar, desteñir, emborronar
v. intr. - manchar, mancharse
n. - mancha, borrón, salpicadura, mordiente, nogalina, mácula, tacha

idioms:

• stain remover    quitamanchas
• stained glass    vidrio de color

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - fläck, färgämne, färgstoff, bets
v. - fläcka ned, smutsa, besudla, färga av, betsa

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
沾污, 污染, 给染色, 给...着色, 玷污, 败坏, 染色便于显微镜下观察, 变脏, 被沾污, 着色剂, 污点

idioms:

• stain remover    除污剂
• stained glass    彩色的玻璃

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
v. tr. - 沾汙, 污染, 給染色, 給...著色, 玷污, 敗壞, 染色便於顯微鏡下觀察
v. intr. - 變髒, 被沾汙
n. - 污染, 著色劑, 污點

idioms:

• stain remover    除污劑
• stained glass    彩色的玻璃

한국어 (Korean)
v. tr. - 타락시키다, ~에 채색하다, (인격을) 더럽히다
v. intr. - 더럽혀지다, 얼룩이 지다, 녹슬다
n. - 더럼, 착색, 스테인(목재, 섬유 염색용의 염료)

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 汚れ, 汚点, 染料
v. - 汚す, 汚れる, …にしみを付ける, 傷付ける, 色を付ける, 染色する

idioms:

• stain remover    しみ抜き

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) بقعه, لطخه, وصمه, صبغ أخشاب (فعل) وصم, لطخ, صبغ الخشب‏

עברית (Hebrew)
v. tr. - ‮הכתים, צבע‬
v. intr. - ‮הוכתם‬
n. - ‮כתם, דופי‬

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