Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Botany Finely or minutely barbed.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Having small bristles or barbules: used chiefly in botany. Also
barbulate .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective (Bot.) Having short, stiff hairs, often barbed at the point.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective botany Having a covering of fine
barbs ,quills ,spines orthorns
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective having or covered with protective barbs or quills or spines or thorns or setae etc.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[From New Latin barbella, diminutive of Latin barba, beard; see bhardh-ā- in Indo-European roots.]
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word barbellate.
Examples
-
We drew from the river shining blue perch heavier than the fattest man in our company, and there were huge catfish, with barbellate whiskers as long as my arm, that were too strong and weighty to be captured in the nets.
River God Smith, Wilbur, 1933- 1993
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.