a. and sb. [f. Gr. κερατ- horn + -OSE.]
A. adj. Of a horny substance; applied to the texture of certain sponges.
1851–9. Owen, in Man. Sci. Enq., 365. They are divided … into horny or ‘keratose,’ flinty or ‘siliceous’ and limey or ‘calcareous’ sponges.
B. sb. A substance resembling horn forming part of the skeleton of certain sponges.
1865. R. Patterson, in Pop. Sci. Rev. April, 306. In the sponges in domestic use it [the skeleton] is principally composed of a substance termed Keratose.
1877. Huxley, Anat. Inv. Anim., iii. 117. A skeleton, which consists … of bands and filaments of keratose, and secondly, of silicious spicula.
Hence Keratosed a., rendered horny.
1894. Lancet, 3 Nov., 1025. The distinguishing mark between a coccidium and an invaginated or keratosed cell.
