Definitions

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

  • noun A tubular excretory organ in many invertebrates, such as mollusks and earthworms.
  • noun The excretory organ of a vertebrate embryo from which the kidney develops.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The sexual or renal organ of mollusks, corresponding to the kidneys of the vertebrates, having an excretory and depurative office; the so-called organ of Bojanus.

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

  • noun (Zoöl. & Anat.) A segmental tubule; one of the tubules of the primitive urinogenital organs; a segmental organ. See Illust. under loeven's larva.

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

  • noun biology a tubular excretory organ in some invertebrates
  • noun anatomy the embryonic excretory organ that develops into the kidney

Etymologies

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

[nephr(o)– + Latin -idium, diminutive suff. (from Greek -idion).]

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Examples

  • “Did you get out the nephridium?” he said as graciously as he could.

    Love and Mr Lewisham Herbert George 2004

  • He sat to the last moment doggedly struggling to keep cool and to mount the ciliated funnel of an earthworm's nephridium.

    Love and Mr. Lewisham 1906

  • "Did you get out the nephridium?" he said as graciously as he could.

    Love and Mr. Lewisham 1906

  • He sat to the last moment doggedly struggling to keep cool and to mount the ciliated funnel of an earthworm’s nephridium.

    Love and Mr Lewisham Herbert George 2004

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