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acaleph

[ak-uh-lef]
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noun
  1. (in former classifications) any coelenterate of the group Acalephae, including the sea nettles and jellyfishes.
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Also ac·a·lephe [ak-uh-leef] /ˈæk əˌlif/.

Origin of acaleph

1700–10; < New Latin acalepha < Greek akalḗphē stinging nettle, sea anemone
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for acaleph

Historical Examples

  • And throughout considerable portions of their bodies, some of the Acaleph exhibit more or less distinctly this type of structure.

    Illustrations of Universal Progress

    Herbert Spencer

  • The medus are often termed the Acaleph—a word which signifies nettles, and they are popularly known as sea nettles.

    The Sea Shore

    William S. Furneaux

  • Perhaps they too act like the venomous matter produced in the thread-capsules of the Acaleph.

  • The color of this pretty Acaleph varies from a greenish hue to green, with a faint tinge of red, or to a reddish brown.

    Seaside Studies in Natural History

    Elizabeth Cabot Cary Agassiz

  • It exists occasionally in considerable numbers on the internal surface of some Acaleph of the ocean and of the Mediterranean.

British Dictionary definitions for acaleph

acaleph

noun
  1. obsolete any of the coelenterates of the former taxonomic group Acalephae, which included the jellyfishes
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Word Origin

C18: from New Latin, from Greek akalēphē a sting
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012