Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- Having four wings, as a fruit or stem (see
wing ); tetrapteran.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective (Zoöl.) Having four wings.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective entomology Having
four (two pairs of)wings
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Of creatures that can fly and are bloodless some are coleopterous or sheath-winged, for they have their wings in a sheath or shard, like the cockchafer and the dung-beetle; others are sheathless, and of these latter some are dipterous and some tetrapterous: tetrapterous, such as are comparatively large or have their stings in the tail, dipterous, such as are comparatively small or have their stings in front.
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Some insects are dipterous or double-winged, as the fly; others are tetrapterous or furnished with four wings, as the bee; and, by the way, no insect with only two wings has a sting in the rear.
palooka commented on the word tetrapterous
Say it 10 times fast. It means having four wings & it's our word for the day.
July 8, 2007
reesetee commented on the word tetrapterous
Yikes. Too early in the morning to try this one! Think I need more coffee first....
July 9, 2007