acaleph

[ak-uh-lef]

noun

(in former classifications) any coelenterate of the group Acalephae, including the sea nettles and jellyfishes.

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. 2019

Examples from the Web for acaleph

Historical Examples of acaleph

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.
Report on the Radiolaria Collected by H.M.S. Challenger During the Years 1873-1876, Second Part: Subclass Osculosa; Index
Ernst Haeckel
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.
Animal Parasites and Messmates
P. J. Van Beneden

British Dictionary definitions for acaleph

acaleph

noun

obsolete any of the coelenterates of the former taxonomic group Acalephae, which included the jellyfishes

Word Origin for acaleph

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