smear

smear (smēr) a specimen for microscopic study prepared by spreading the material across the slide.

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Pap smear , Papanicolaou smear see under test.

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smear (smîr)

n.

A sample, as of blood or bacterial cells, spread thinly on a slide and usually stained for microscopic examination or applied to the surface of a culture medium.

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Smear

A specimen prepared for microscopic study by spreading the material across a slide and treating it with a specific stain.

Mentioned in: Leprosy

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smear

Etymology: AS, smeoru, grease

a laboratory specimen for microscopic examination prepared by spreading a thin film of tissue or fluid on a glass slide. A dye, stain, reagent, diluent, or lysing agent may be applied to the specimen, depending on the purpose of the examination.

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smear [smēr]

a specimen for microscopic study, the material being spread thinly and unevenly across the slide with a swab or loop, or with the edge of another slide.

Smears from opaque thick liquids or semisolids, such as stool, can be made using a swab to sample and smear the material. From Mahon and Manuselis, 1995.

Pap smear (Papanicolaou smear) see papanicolaou test.

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smear

a specimen for microscopic study, the material being spread thinly and unevenly across the slide with a swab or loop, or with the edge of another slide, e.g. blood smear, for differential white cell count, or trypanosome sighting, fecal for the presence of worm eggs or coccidial oocysts.

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impression smear

one made by pressing the slide against tissue, usually the surface of a neoplasm or the cut surface of a tissue specimen.

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smear

Tuberculosis A specimen gobbed on a glass slide, stained, washed in an acid solution, and examined by LM to detect AFB in a specimen. See Acid-fast bacilli, Wet mount.