Definitions

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

  • noun Any of various ferns of the genus Polypodium, or formerly classified in this genus, having creeping rhizomes and often evergreen fronds with narrow undivided leaflets.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A fern of the genus Polypodium, chiefly P. vulgare, the common polypody, growing commonly on rocks: in England locally called adder's-fern, wall- or wood-fern, polypody of the oak or of the wall, etc.
  • noun In zoology, the condition of having many legs or many abdominal legs.
  • noun Same as polypodia.

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

  • noun (Bot.) Any plant of the genus Polypodium.

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

  • noun botany Any of many ferns of the genus Polypodium, especially common polypody.

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

  • noun any of numerous ferns of the genus Polypodium

Etymologies

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

[Middle English polypodie, from Latin polypodium, from Greek polupodion, from diminutive of polupous, many-footed : polu-, poly- + pous, pod-, foot; see –pod.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Anglo-Norman polypodie and its source, Late Latin polypodium.

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