extensile

American  

[ik-sten-suhl, -sahyl] / ɪkˈstɛn səl, -saɪl /

adjective

Chiefly Zoology, Anatomy.

1. capable of being extended; adapted for stretching out; extensible; protrusible.

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Other Word Forms

• nonextensile adjective

Etymology

Origin of extensile

First recorded in 1735–45; extens(ion) + -ile

Example Sentences

It has an excessively long, slender muzzle, and a worm-like, extensile tongue.

From Project Gutenberg

Three thousand of them, for a single meal, he has been known to lick out of a hill with his long, round, extensile, sticky tongue.

From Project Gutenberg

Bill shorter than the head, straight, conical; tongue long and extensile; nostrils without bristles, partly closed by a membrane; wings with the second primary somewhat the longest; tail-feathers soft and flexible.

From Project Gutenberg

Most of the caterpillars have oval, slug-shaped, smooth bodies, with the under surface flattened, and very small heads, which in many species can be extended by means of an extensile neck.

From Project Gutenberg

The only other North American birds that have a tongue built upon this plan are the hummingbirds, in which also it is extensile.

From Project Gutenberg