elater

[ el-uh-ter ]

noun
  1. Botany. an elastic filament serving to disperse spores.

  2. Zoology. elaterid.

  1. Obsolete. elasticity.

Origin of elater

1
1645–55; <New Latin <Greek elatḗr driver, equivalent to ela- (stem of elaúnein to drive; see elastic) + -tēr noun suffix

Words Nearby elater

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use elater in a sentence

  • Furthermore, the spirals may be smooth or spinulose the elater uniform throughout or enlarged betimes by nodes and swellings.

    The North American Slime-Moulds | Thomas H. (Thomas Huston) MacBride
  • The capillitium is very even the taeniae closely wound, the elater-ends often furcate.

    The North American Slime-Moulds | Thomas H. (Thomas Huston) MacBride
  • I have frequently watched the ants make use of these passages mined by the elater on these occasions.

    Animal Intelligence | George J. Romanes
  • It is the elater, or still more scientifically, the Pyrophorus noctilucus.

    On the Banks of the Amazon | W.H.G. Kingston
  • Hence their name of elater (derived from the same root as the word elastic).

    The Insect World | Louis Figuier

British Dictionary definitions for elater

elater

/ (ˈɛlətə) /


noun
  1. an elaterid beetle

  2. botany a spirally thickened filament, occurring in liverwort capsules and horsetails, thought to aid dispersal of spores

Origin of elater

1
C17: via New Latin from Greek: driver, from elaunein to beat, drive; compare elastic

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

Scientific definitions for elater

elater

[ ĕlə-tər ]


  1. A tiny elongated structure that helps disperse plant spores by coiling and uncoiling in response to changes in humidity. The elaters of horsetails are bands attached to the spore wall, while those of liverworts are sterile cells occurring among the spores.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.