Definitions

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

  • adjective Irregularly notched, toothed, or indented.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • See ærose.
  • Gnawed; having small irregular sinuses in the margin, as if gnawed: applied to a leaf, to an insect's wing, etc.

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

  • adjective Irregular or uneven as if eaten or worn away.
  • adjective (Bot.) Jagged or irregularly toothed, as if nibbled out or gnawed.

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

  • adjective Irregularly notched, eaten away, as though bitten

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

  • adjective having an irregularly notched or toothed margin as though gnawed

Etymologies

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

[From Latin ērōsus, past participle of ērōdere, to gnaw off; see erode.]

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Examples

  • It gets harder and harder, until you're trying to guess what "erose" means ( "jagged", apparently).

    Latest news breaking news current news UK news world news celebrity news politics news 2009

  • It gets harder and harder, until you're trying to guess what "erose" means ( "jagged", apparently).

    Telegraph.co.uk: news business sport the Daily Telegraph newspaper Sunday Telegraph 2009

  • I came slowly around to the erose, pitted fins, to look across a firebared space at the new ship.

    The Zero Stone Norton, Andre 1968

  • The _first glume_ is very short less than 1/5 inch, broadly oblong, nerveless, hyaline, broadly truncate and erose at the apex.

    A Handbook of Some South Indian Grasses K. Rangachari

  • In some grasses it is a distinct membrane narrow or broad, with an even, truncate or erose margin, or finely ciliate.

    A Handbook of Some South Indian Grasses K. Rangachari

  • Sterile flowers terminal or axillary on wood of the preceding year, 1/2-3/4 inch long, cylindrical; anthers pinkish-red: fertile flowers lateral along previous season's shoots, erect; scales madder-purple, spirally imbricated, broader than long, margin entire or slightly erose.

    Handbook of the Trees of New England Lorin Low Dame 1860

  • = -- April to May, a week or two earlier than the red spruce; sterile flowers terminal or axillary, on wood of the preceding year; about 3/8 inch long, ovate; anthers madder-red: fertile flowers at or near end of season's shoots, erect; scales madder-red, spirally imbricated, broader than long, margin erose, rarely entire.

    Handbook of the Trees of New England Lorin Low Dame 1860

  • = -- Cones upon dwarf branches, erect or inclining upwards, ovoid to cylindrical, 1/2-3/4 of an inch long, purplish or reddish brown while growing, light brown at maturity, persistent for at least a year; scales thin, obtuse to truncate; edge entire, minutely toothed or erose; seeds small, winged.

    Handbook of the Trees of New England Lorin Low Dame 1860

  • _fourth glume_ is narrow, ciliate, nerveless or rarely 1-nerved, erose or bifid at the top.

    A Handbook of Some South Indian Grasses K. Rangachari

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