Definitions

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

  • noun Any of numerous marine invertebrates of the phylum Brachiopoda, having a shell with two valves of unequal size enclosing an armlike lophophore used for feeding, and including many extinct species commonly found as fossils.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One of the Brachiopoda.
  • Same as brachiopodous.

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

  • noun (Zoöl.) One of the Brachiopoda, or its shell.

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

  • noun Any of many marine invertebrates, of the phylum Brachiopoda, that have bivalve dorsal and ventral shells with two tentacle-bearing arms that capture food

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

  • noun marine animal with bivalve shell having a pair of arms bearing tentacles for capturing food; found worldwide
  • adjective of or belonging to the phylum Brachiopoda

Etymologies

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

[From New Latin Brāchiopoda, phylum name : Latin brācchium, arm; see brachium + New Latin -poda, -pod.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From brachio- + -pod.

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Examples

  • A brachiopod is an ocean creature that looks a little like a clam.

    The Source John Clayton Nils Jansma 2001

  • A brachiopod is an ocean creature that looks a little like a clam.

    The Source John Clayton Nils Jansma 2001

  • The name of the fossil rises from some corner of his brain: brachiopod.

    Memory Wall Anthony Doerr 2010

  • The name of the fossil rises from some corner of his brain: brachiopod.

    Memory Wall Anthony Doerr 2010

  • My aunt came to Canada for a visit, and she picked up a Middle Ordovician brachiopod fossil off the trail and showed it to me.

    Archive 2009-06-01 ReBecca Foster 2009

  • My favourite living fossil is the brachiopod Lingula.

    THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH RICHARD DAWKINS 2009

  • My favourite living fossil is the brachiopod Lingula.

    THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH RICHARD DAWKINS 2009

  • I can handle leaving vertebrates alone, archeological sites, etc. but when I find a nice brachiopod weathering out of the Percha Shale, the last thing I want is some federal employee telling me I must leave it there to be destroyed instead of adding it to my collection where I and my descendants could possibly appreciate.

    Hope for the Paleontological Resources Preservation Act! ReBecca Foster 2009

  • My aunt came to Canada for a visit, and she picked up a Middle Ordovician brachiopod fossil off the trail and showed it to me.

    Museum Monday #1: St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm ReBecca Foster 2009

  • On a trip in the Grand Canyon several years ago, a friend of mine named Alan Doty an Arizona resident who is an expert on the Grand Canyon showed me numerous fossils of brachiopod remains in a rock outcrop near the top of the Canyon.

    The Source John Clayton Nils Jansma 2001

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