Dictionary

polypus en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈpɑlɪpəs/ (General-American)
• /ˈpɒlɪpəs/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From Latin polypus, from Ancient Greek πολύπους (polúpous). Doublet of polyp.

Meanings

1. A medical phenomenon. ▸ A polyp.
   • The nasal passages should be carefully examined for symptoms of stegnosis, enlargement of the turbinated bones, polypi, etc. 1898, Werner's magazine, volume 20:
2. A medical phenomenon. ▸ A cardiac thrombus usually found post-mortem.
3. (obsolete) An aquatic creature. ▸ A tentacled cephalopod, such as an octopus, squid, or cuttlefish.
   • He had been becalmed in the tropical seas, and had watched, in eager expectation, though unhappily always in vain, to see the colossal polypus rise from the water, and entwine its enormous arms round the masts and the rigging. 1818, Thomas Love Peacock, Nightmare Abbey, section VII:
   • From many a wondrous grot and secret cell Unnumbered and enormous polypi Winnow with giant arms the slumbering green. 1830, Alfred Tennyson, “The Kraken”, in Poems, Chiefly Lyrical:
4. (archaic) An aquatic creature. ▸ Any of various simple aquatic invertebrates having mouths surrounded by tentacles, including hydrozoa and anthozoa; including the sessile life stages of organisms whose corresponding free-swimming stage is the medusa.

Forms