From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishchromosomechro‧mo‧some /ˈkrəʊməsəʊm $ ˈkroʊməsoʊm/ noun [countable] HBa part of every living cell that is shaped like a thread and contains the genes that control the size, shape etc that a plant or animal has → y chromosome
Examples from the Corpus
chromosome• Humans have 46 chromosomes.• The research found that alpha rays may cause damage to cells which only becomes apparent much later when abnormal chromosomes appear.• The cytoplasmic apparatus thus effects chromosome division.• Lane 1 corresponds to a cosmid from human chromosome 6 and serves as a control.• Reduced to just the haploid maternal complement of chromosomes, the egg develops into a male.• In a human being one cell contains 23 pairs of chromosomes.• However, the genes brought in by a plasmid do not usually become a permanent part of the bacterium's own chromosome.• When the membrane breaks down, licensing factors from the cytoplasm gain access to the chromosomes.• In man, for instance, the genes that control gender are on the Y chromosome.Origin chromosome (1800-1900) Greek chroma ( → CHROMATIC) + soma “body”; because chromosomes easily take up coloring substances 