Definitions

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

  • noun A circular or horseshoe-shaped structure of ciliated tentacles located around the mouth of brachiopods, bryozoans, and phoronids that is used to gather food.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A pheasant of the genus Lophophorus; the Impeyan pheasant. See cut under Impeyan.
  • noun In Polyzoa, the oral disk at the free end of the polypide, on which is situated the mouth: so called from the circlet of ciliated tentacles which it bears. See Plumatella.

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

  • noun (Zoöl.) A disk which surrounds the mouth and bears the tentacles of the Bryozoa. See phylactolemata.

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

  • noun zoology A feeding organ of brachiopods, bryozoans and phoronids

Etymologies

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

[Greek lophos, crest of a helmet + –phore.]

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Examples

  • She was dressed simply, in a black embroidered gown trimmed with jet, tempering the severe simplicity of her costume by its scintillating reflections and by the brilliancy of a fascinating little hat adorned with the feathers of the _lophophore_, whose changing colors her hair, tightly curled over the forehead and parted at the neck in broad waves, seemed to prolong and to soften.

    The Nabob, Vol. 2 (of 2) Alphonse Daudet 1868

Comments

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  • (Zoology) In Polyzoa, the oral disc at the free end of the polypide, bearing the tentacles. Also, a bird with crested crown and brilliant plumage, belonging to the genus Lophophorus of the family Phasianidæ.

    February 16, 2008