glabrous
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of glabrous
1630–40; < Latin glabr- (stem of glaber ) smooth, hairless + -ous
Explanation
The term glabrous describes surfaces that are smooth and free of hair, fur, or other types of fuzz. While most mammals are covered with hair or fur, some mammals, like adult dolphins, have glabrous skin. You might describe a shiny apple or a naked mole-rat as glabrous. In botany, a leaf without any tiny hairs or fuzz is considered glabrous. Similarly, a person with a freshly shaved head has a glabrous scalp. The word comes from the Latin word glaber, meaning "smooth or bald." This term is often used in both botany and anatomy to describe organic surfaces that are completely smooth and hairless.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Meissner’s corpuscles, found in glabrous skin, are rapidly adapting, encapsulated receptors that detect touch, low- frequency vibration, and flutter.
From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022
They, too, are found primarily in the glabrous skin on the fingertips and eyelids.
From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022
Try applying the samples on both the glabrous skin of the lips and the hairy skin of the forearm.
From Scientific American • Feb. 4, 2015
The face, after all, includes another glabrous surface of the body, so cooling it with water might help stave off exhaustion.
From Slate • Sep. 7, 2012
Stem 2–4° high; racemes slender, panicled, ovaries mostly 5, glabrous; pods flattened, veiny, 6–8-seeded.—Mountains of S. Penn. and southward.
From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Gray, Asa
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
