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.
2. Any mark of infamy or disgrace; sign of moral blemish; stain or
reproach caused by dishonorable conduct; reproachful characterization.
The blackest stigma that can be fastened upon him.
Bp. Hall.
All such slaughters were from thence called Bartelmies, simply in a
perpetual stigma of that butchery.
Sir G. Buck.
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.
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.
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.
6. (Zoöl.) (a) One of the external openings of the tracheæ 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.
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.
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.
||Stig*ma"ri*a (?), n. [NL. See Stigma.] (Paleon.) The fossil root stem
||of a coal plant of the genus Sigillaria.
||Stig"ma*ta (?), n.; pl. of Stigma.
Stig*mat"ic (?), n. 1. A notorious profligate or criminal who has been
branded; one who bears the marks of infamy or punishment. [R.]
Bullokar.