Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Dropping off or shedding at an early stage of development, as the gills of most amphibians or the sepals or stipules of certain plants.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Having a tendency to fall or decay.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- (Bot. & Zoöl.) Dropping off or disappearing early, as the calyx of a poppy, or the gills of a tadpole.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective biology Of a part of an organism,
disappearing in the normal course ofdevelopment . - adjective botany Tending to
fall early .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective shed at an early stage of development
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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As “cloud racks up” above the lake, the poem racks up definitions for oligotrophic, eutrophic, caducous, absyssal, meanings for Toronto and Ontario.
Sheryda Warrener reads Karen Solie Lemon Hound 2009
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The _spikelets_ are small, 1/20 to 1/16 inch subsessile or pedicelled, always appressed to the rachis solitary in the upper portions of the branches, and two to five on the branchlets in the lower portion, pale, green or rarely copper coloured, oblong or lanceolate, acute or acuminate, caducous or glumes one and two persistent.
A Handbook of Some South Indian Grasses K. Rangachari
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The first and the second glumes are unequal, persistent or separately caducous.
A Handbook of Some South Indian Grasses K. Rangachari
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I anticipate another anatomical discovery, that this organ will be found to be cortical and caducous, that they are superficially morose, but at last tender-hearted, herein differing from Rome and the Latin nations.
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Calyx with 5 erect segments, imbricated, caducous.
The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines Jerome Beers Thomas 1891
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Leaves alternate, compound, digitate, caducous; leaflets 5-7 with long common petiole.
The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines Jerome Beers Thomas 1891
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Flowers yellow, in racemes, with caducous bracts and bractlets.
The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines Jerome Beers Thomas 1891
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-- A slender, twining plant with leaves 3 'by 1', opposite, oval, acute, entire, long petioles and caducous stipules.
The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines Jerome Beers Thomas 1891
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-- A tree, 4-6 meters high, with drooping limbs; leaves long, very narrow, abruptly pinnate; many caducous leaflets, linear, elliptical.
The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines Jerome Beers Thomas 1891
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I anticipate another anatomical discovery, that this organ will be found to be cortical and caducous, that they are superficially morose, but at last tender-hearted, herein differing from Rome and the Latin nations.
chained_bear commented on the word caducous
Wow. I thought this was a misspelling for caduceus. Wait... did I misspell that?
March 11, 2008
ruzuzu commented on the word caducous
I just thought the same thing! (Three years later.)
January 5, 2011