Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Botany The stalk of an inflorescence or a stalk bearing a solitary flower in a one-flowered inflorescence.
- noun Zoology A stalklike structure in invertebrate animals, usually serving as an attachment for a larger part or structure.
- noun Anatomy A stalklike bundle of nerve fibers connecting different parts of the brain.
- noun Medicine The stalklike base to which a polyp or tumor is attached.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In zoöl:
- noun In botany, a general flower-stalk supporting either a cluster or a solitary flower: in the latter case the cluster may be regarded as reduced to a single blossom. Gray. See also cut under
pedicel . - noun In zoöl., a little foot or foot-like part; a pedicle or pedicel.
- noun See the adjective.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Bot.) The stem or stalk that supports the flower or fruit of a plant, or a cluster of flowers or fruits.
- noun (Zoöl.) A sort of stem by which certain shells and barnacles are attached to other objects. See
Illust. ofBarnacle . - noun (Anat.) A band of nervous or fibrous matter connecting different parts of the brain
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun botany The axis of an
inflorescence ; thestalk supporting aninflorescence . - noun botany A short stalk at the base of a
leaf or reproductive structure. - noun anatomy A bundle of
neurons connecting different parts of thebrain . - noun anatomy In
arthropods , the base segments of anantenna . - noun anatomy A stem attaching a mass of
tissue (such as apolyp ) to the body. - noun zoology A collection of nerves in the
appendage of an animal (such as the tip of a dolphin's tail).
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun stalk bearing an inflorescence or solitary flower
- noun the thin process of tissue that attaches a polyp to the body
- noun a bundle of myelinated neurons joining different parts of the brain
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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a leaf very near its base; peduncle is short; branches of the panicle, filiform, angular, flexuous, bearing one or more spikelets and produced as a bristle beyond the last spikelet.
A Handbook of Some South Indian Grasses K. Rangachari
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Some of its axons pass backward to the abducent nucleus, this bundle is known as the peduncle of the superior olivary nucleus.
IX. Neurology. 4e. Composition and Central Connections of the Spinal Nerves 1918
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The widely-cleft, shell-less test is supported upon a thick peduncle, which is immersed in the skin of the
Facts and Arguments for Darwin Fritz Muller 1859
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The peduncle is the fulcre of the fructifica - tion, or a partial ftem fupporting that only.
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The _inflorescence_ consists of digitately arranged spikes 1-1/2 to 4 inches long on a peduncle which is sometimes 15 inches long.
A Handbook of Some South Indian Grasses K. Rangachari
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The fruits of _Tetragonia expansa_ frequently have attached to their side a secondary flower or fruit in such a position as to lead to the inference that it springs from the upper portion of the peduncle which is dilated to invest the true carpels.
Vegetable Teratology An Account of the Principal Deviations from the Usual Construction of Plants Maxwell T. Masters
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The _leaf-sheath_ is smooth, glabrous, slightly compressed, sparsely bearded at the mouth, shorter than the internode, except the one enclosing the peduncle which is usually long.
A Handbook of Some South Indian Grasses K. Rangachari
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Racemes two, both sessile, or one sessile and the other pedicelled on a peduncle which is more or less sheathed by a proper spathe, divaricate or deflexed.
A Handbook of Some South Indian Grasses K. Rangachari
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Their torpedo-shaped streamlined bodies, thin caudal peduncle, and stiff distinctively-shaped tails allow them to swim rapidly.
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A male swimmer has just whipped the whole muscular, tapering rear of its body — the peduncle, which powers the fluke — high in the air.
back to work 2006
yarb commented on the word peduncle
Its shade, and the folly of peduncles, delicately camouflaged the basic details...
- Nabokov, Ada, or Ardor
June 4, 2008