| mature | 1. Brought by natural process to completeness of growth and development; fitted by growth and development for any function, action, or state, appropriate to its kind; full-grown; ripe. "Now is love mature in ear." (Tennison) "How shall I meet, or how accost, the sage, Unskilled in speech, nor yet mature of age ?" (Pope) 2. Completely worked out; fully digested or prepared; ready for action; made ready for destined application or use; perfected; as, a mature plan. "This lies glowing, . . . And is almost mature for the violent breaking out." (Shak) 3. Of or pertaining to a condition of full development; as, a man of mature years. 4. Come to, or in a state of, completed suppuration. Synonym: Ripe, perfect, completed, prepared, digested, ready. Mature, Ripe. Both words describe fullness of growth. Mature brings to view the progressiveness of the process; ripe indicates the result. We speak of a thing as mature when thinking of the successive stayes through which it has passed; as ripe, when our attention is directed merely to its state. A mature judgment; mature consideration; ripe fruit; a ripe scholar. Origin: L. Maturus; prob. Akin to E. Matin. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| mature bacteriophage | The complete, infective form of bacteriophage. (05 Mar 2000) |
| mature cataract | A cataract in which both the nucleus and cortex are opaque. Synonym: complete cataract, ripe cataract. (05 Mar 2000) |
| mature cell leukaemia | Chronic granulocytic leukaemia. (05 Mar 2000) |
| mature neutrophil | A fully matured neutrophil that has at least 2 (and as many as 5) distinct lobes in the nucleus and manifests active ameboid motion. Synonym: mature neutrophil. (05 Mar 2000) |
| mature ovarian follicle | A follicle ready for ovulation; in the human ovary its antrum attains a diameter of 6 to 8 mm and presents a surface bulge; a first maturation (meiotic) division of the ovum usually occurs just prior to the rupture of the follicle. (05 Mar 2000) |