Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A genus of myriapods, constituting the family Peripatidæ.
- noun [lowercase] A species of this genus.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Zoöl.) A genus of lowly organized arthropods, found in South Africa, Australia, and tropical America. It constitutes the order Malacopoda.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun zoology Any
onychophoran of the genusPeripatus
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun any of numerous velvety-skinned wormlike carnivorous animals common in tropical forests having characteristics of both arthropods and annelid worms
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[New Latin Peripatus, genus name, from Greek peripatos, walking about, from peripatein, to walk about; see peripatetic.]
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Examples
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First a swimming lily, Stentor, a solitary animal bloom, twenty-five to the inch; Cothurnia, a double lily, and Gonium, with a quartet of cells clinging tremulously together, progressing unsteadily -- materially toward the rim of my field of vision -- in the evolution of earthly life toward sponges, peripatus, ants and man.
Edge of the Jungle William Beebe 1919
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