Definitions

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

  • adjective Forked or cleft into two parts.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Cleft or divided into two parts; forked, as the tongue of a snake; specifically, in botany, divided half-way down into two parts; opening with a cleft; divided by a linear sinus, with straight margins.

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

  • adjective Cleft to the middle or slightly beyond the middle; opening with a cleft; divided by a linear sinus, with straight margins.

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

  • adjective Cleft. Divided into two lobes.

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

  • adjective divided into two lobes

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin bifidus ("cleft"), from bi- ("two") + -fidus, combining form of findo ("I cleave, split")

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Examples

  • When divided, they take the name of Furca, forks or forked prickles; and are called bifid, trifid, &c. from the num - ber of divisions.

    The language of botany : being a dictionary of the terms made use of in that science, principally by Linneus ... 1793

  • Nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome (NBCCS) is characterized by skeletal abnormalities, such as bifid ribs (ribs that are split into two pieces) and wedge-shaped vertebrae.

    Nevoid Basal Cell Carcinoma Syndrome 2010

  • Named after Cadboro Bay, a sightings hotspot, Caddy sightings are impressively consistent, with most reports mentioning a large-eyed, horse-like or camel-like head (often with short horns), a long neck, serpentine body, a pair of flippers and a bifid, horizontal tail (LeBlond & Bousfield 1995).

    Cadborosaurus Darren Naish 2006

  • Named after Cadboro Bay, a sightings hotspot, Caddy sightings are impressively consistent, with most reports mentioning a large-eyed, horse-like or camel-like head (often with short horns), a long neck, serpentine body, a pair of flippers and a bifid, horizontal tail (LeBlond & Bousfield 1995).

    Archive 2006-09-01 Darren Naish 2006

  • In some oviparous quadrupeds, namely in lizards, the tongue is bifid, as also it is in serpents, and its terminal divisions are of hair-like fineness, as has already been described.

    On the Parts of Animals 2002

  • Barbed and Unbarbed, and feet into Manycleft, and Twocleft, like those of animals with bifid hoofs, and Uncleft or Undivided, like those of animals with solid hoofs.

    On the Parts of Animals 2002

  • When you see a left with two points (bifid leaf) coming up, transplant the seedling out into the nursery.

    Chapter 3 1977

  • The bulbus urethrae being also a median structure, is occasionally found notched in the centre, and presenting a bifid appearance.

    Surgical Anatomy Joseph Maclise

  • The pupæ of this species are rough, and armed with small, sharp points at all the segments; the last segment having a thick, straight, and bifid tail.

    Scientific American Supplement, No. 344, August 5, 1882 Various

  • The second glume is thinner, dorsally gibbous, keeled, 5 - to 9-nerved, beaked and minutely bifid.

    A Handbook of Some South Indian Grasses K. Rangachari

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