cupule

[ kyoo-pyool ]

/ ˈkyu pyul /

noun

Botany.

a cup-shaped whorl of hardened, cohering bracts, as in the acorn.
a cup-shaped outgrowth of the thallus of certain liverworts.
the apothecium of a cup fungus.

Zoology. a small cup-shaped sucker or similar organ or part.

Nearby words

cuprous, cuprous cyanide, cuprum, cupula, cupulate, cupule, cupuliform cataract, cupulogram, cupulometry, cur, cur dog

Origin of cupule

1820–30; < New Latin cūpula, Late Latin: small tub; see cupola

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for cupule

These cylindrical muscles with their cupule and tendon look like so many syringes.
An Introduction to Entomology: Vol. IV (of 4)|William Kirby
Here the involucre, in the form of a cup at the base, is called the Cupule.
The Elements of Botany|Asa Gray
In the Chestnut the cupule forms the bur; in the Hazel, a leafy husk.
The Elements of Botany|Asa Gray
The latter are in clusters of a few only, and each separate flower is enclosed in a cupule of overlapping scales.
Field and Woodland Plants|William S. Furneaux

Among the specimens of the last class, one sort, the cupule, is extremely widespread.
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, February 1899|Various

British Dictionary definitions for cupule

cupule

/ (ˈkjuːpjuːl) /

noun

biology a cup-shaped part or structure, such as the cup around the base of an acorn

Word Origin for cupule

C19: from Late Latin cūpula; see cupola

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