Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A specialized structure of a parasitic fungus or plant, used to absorb nutrients and water from the host plant.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One of the small roots or suckers of parasitic plants, which attach themselves to and penetrate the host plant, and establish a direct connection with its sap, upon which the parasite wholly or partly subsists.
  • noun plural In fungi, specialized branches or organs of mycelia, serving either as a means of attachment or to bring the fungus into organic connection with its host.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Bot.) One of the suckerlike rootlets of such plants as the dodder and ivy.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A root of a parasitic plant modified to take nourishment from its host.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a root-like attachment in parasitic plants that penetrates and obtains food from the host

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[New Latin haustōrium, from Latin haustus, a drawing in, absorption, from past participle of haurīre, to draw up.]

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Examples

  • "I recognize the haustorium," Flinx muttered, "but where did those damn loops come from?"

    Flinx In Flux Foster, Alan Dean, 1946- 1988

  • What remained of the truieg fell aside, still encased in graying haustorium.

    Flinx In Flux Foster, Alan Dean, 1946- 1988

  • "I recognize the haustorium," Flinx muttered, "but where did those damn loops come from?"

    Flinx In Flux Foster, Alan Dean, 1946- 1988

  • What Flinx had felt moving slightly beneath the first man's body armor were bunched strands of haustorium.

    Flinx In Flux Foster, Alan Dean, 1946- 1988

  • Before that happened, Flinx promised himself, they would have found their way to the vast common storage room beneath the port and worked their way up to join its stalwart defenders-assuming any had managed to hold out against the attacking fanatics and provided that they did not encounter any more haustorium-firing fungi or pseudo-vexfoots along the way.

    Flinx In Flux Foster, Alan Dean, 1946- 1988

  • What remained of the truieg fell aside, still encased in graying haustorium.

    Flinx In Flux Foster, Alan Dean, 1946- 1988

  • What Flinx had felt moving slightly beneath the first man's body armor were bunched strands of haustorium.

    Flinx In Flux Foster, Alan Dean, 1946- 1988

  • He dropped his eyes to the remnant of truleg still encased in the severed haustorium.

    Flinx In Flux Foster, Alan Dean, 1946- 1988

  • After surviving the pseudo-vexfoot's assault, the haustorium-firing fungus, and the rain drain that had swallowed Clarity, it was almost ironic that he should stumble on a dry, smooth chunk of rock.

    Flinx In Flux Foster, Alan Dean, 1946- 1988

  • He dropped his eyes to the remnant of truleg still encased in the severed haustorium.

    Flinx In Flux Foster, Alan Dean, 1946- 1988

Comments

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  • In botany, a haustorium (plural haustoria) is the hyphal tip of a parasitic fungus or of the root of a parasitic plant (such as in the broomrape family), that penetrates the host's tissue, but stays outside the host cell membrane. - Wikipedia

    July 20, 2009