madrepore

American  

[mad-ruh-pawr, -pohr] / ˈmæd rəˌpɔr, -ˌpoʊr /

noun

1. any true or stony coral of the order Madreporaria, forming reefs or islands in tropical seas.

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madrepore British  

/ ˌmædrɪˈpɔː, ˌmædrɪpəˈrɪtɪk, ˌmædrɪˈpɒrɪk /

noun

1. any coral of the genus Madrepora, many of which occur in tropical seas and form large coral reefs: order Zoantharia

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Other Word Forms

• madreporal
  adjective
• madreporian
  adjective
• madreporic
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of madrepore

1745–55; < French madrépore reef-building coral < Italian madrepora, equivalent to madre mother (< Latin māter ) + -pora, for poro < Greek pôros kind of stone

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

madrepore

Third picture: in shallow seas have sprung up isles of madrepore; a cluster of palm trees overhangs them here and there.

From Bouvard and Pécuchet A Tragi-comic Novel of Bourgeois Life by Flaubert, Gustave

Quaint madrepore inlaying every palace, from Versailles downwards, like cells of pygmies in dwelling-places of Titans.

From The Man Who Laughs by Hugo, Victor

It is a marvellous spectacle to see a formless fragment of calcium salt grow into a shell, a madrepore, or a fungus, and this as the result of a simple physical force.

From The Mechanism of Life by Leduc, Stéphane

Aleck continued, gleefully, whilst I drew in line, and my kite slowly descended; "we shall have time for the sailing match, and madrepore hunt, and the caverns—everything!"

From The Story of the White-Rock Cove by Anonymous

Thus, a gryphaea is stated by M. Virlet to have been met with in a lead-mine near Semur, in France, and a madrepore in a compact vein of cinnabar in Hungary.

From The Student's Elements of Geology by Lyell, Charles, Sir