caruncle
Americannoun
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Botany. a protuberance at or surrounding the hilum of a seed.
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Zoology. a fleshy excrescence, as on the head of a bird; a fowl's comb.
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Anatomy. a small, fleshy growth.
noun
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a fleshy outgrowth on the heads of certain birds, such as a cock's comb
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an outgrowth near the hilum on the seeds of some plants
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any small fleshy mass in or on the body, either natural or abnormal
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of caruncle
1605–15; earlier caruncula < Latin: small piece of flesh, diminutive of carō (genitive carnis ) flesh; for suffix, see carbuncle
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.
Stems several from a hard rootstock, 1° high; leaves narrowly linear, 3–12´´ long, acute; wings oblong-obovate; crest small; lobes of the caruncle half the length of the appressed-silky seed.—Neb. and Kan. to Tex.
From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Asa Gray
Many of both sexes were furnished with a large, round, fleshy caruncle on the bill at the base of the forehead--this is said to be present during the breeding season only.
In the breeding season the male is black and has a fleshy red caruncle, or horn, on the top of its head.
From The Gutenberg Webster's Unabridged Dictionary Section T, U, V, and W by Project Gutenberg
Few individuals retained the caruncle when they entered hibernation late in November, and none retained it upon emergence from hibernation.
From Natural History of the Ornate Box Turtle, Terrapene ornata ornata Agassiz by John M. Legler
The caruncle remains on the beak for a variable length of time, but never is present in the spring following hatching.
From Natural History of the Ornate Box Turtle, Terrapene ornata ornata Agassiz by John M. Legler
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.
