The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Osteoblast \Os"te*o*blast\, n. [Osteo- + -blast.] (Anat.) One of the protoplasmic cells which occur in the osteogenetic layer of the periosteum, and from or around which the matrix of the bone is developed; an osteoplast. [1913 Webster]WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
osteoblast n 1: a cell from which bone develops [syn: osteoblast, bone- forming cell]