circumnutate
Americanverb (used without object)
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of circumnutate
1875–80; circum- + nutate < Latin nūtātus, past participle of nūtāre to nod in assent, sway, totter
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.
See Examples For:
This is conspicuously the case with those tendrils which consist of modified leaves, as these sweep wide circles; whilst ordinary leaves usually circumnutate nearly in the same vertical plane.
From The Power of Movement in Plants by Darwin, Charles
The first change is the protrusion of the radicle, which begins at once to circumnutate.
From The Power of Movement in Plants by Darwin, Charles
This movement has been called by Sachs "revolving nutation;" but we have found it much more convenient to use the terms circumnutation and circumnutate.
From The Power of Movement in Plants by Darwin, Charles
These observations were made before we were aware at what an extraordinarily rapid rate the cotyledons circumnutate, and are therefore liable to error.
From The Power of Movement in Plants by Darwin, Charles
Amphicarpoea monoica.—This plant produces long thin shoots, which twine round a support and of course circumnutate.
From The Power of Movement in Plants by Darwin, Charles
Lastly, the very young fronds of a Fern and of a Selaginella circumnutated.
From The Power of Movement in Plants by Darwin, Charles
On the third morning they fell very much, and then circumnutated on a small scale round the same spot; by 8.20 P.M. they showed no tendency to rise at night.
From The Power of Movement in Plants by Darwin, Charles
We thus see that the sub-peduncle oscillated up and down, or circumnutated, during its whole downward epinastic course.
From The Power of Movement in Plants by Darwin, Charles
The hypocotyls, when left free, circumnutated over a large space.
From The Power of Movement in Plants by Darwin, Charles
Cotyledons.—On two occasions the movements of the cotyledons were traced on a vertical glass, and as the ascending and descending lines did not quite coincide, very narrow ellipses were formed; they therefore circumnutated.
From The Power of Movement in Plants by Darwin, Charles
Under these circumstances it was interesting to observe how rapidly the circumnutating apex of a cotyledon passed across the divisions of the micrometer.
From The Power of Movement in Plants by Darwin, Charles
We here plainly see that the leaf was continually circumnutating; but the proper periodicity of its movements was disturbed by its being only dimly illuminated from above through a double skylight.
From The Power of Movement in Plants by Darwin, Charles
During these five days the leaf diverged, and its apex descended at first in an almost straight line; but during the two latter days it zigzagged so much that it was evidently circumnutating.
From The Power of Movement in Plants by Darwin, Charles
The petioles and sub-petioles are continually circumnutating during the whole 24 h., as we shall presently see.
From The Power of Movement in Plants by Darwin, Charles
The summit of the petiole was then secured to a stick, and the separate leaflets were found to be continually circumnutating.
From The Power of Movement in Plants by Darwin, Charles
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.
