millipede

or mil·le·pede

[ mil-uh-peed ]

noun

any terrestrial arthropod of the class Diplopoda, having a cylindrical body composed of 20 to more than 100 segments, each with two pairs of legs.

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Origin of millipede

1595–1605; <Latin mīlipeda (Pliny), equivalent to mīli-milli- + -peda, derivative of pēs, stem ped-foot

Words Nearby millipede

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use millipede in a sentence

He says that their mention of millipedes will no longer require the line that technically, their name is a misnomer.
Scientists discover the first true millipede | Jonathan Lambert | January 5, 2022 | Science News For Students
The leafy bits of bait nabbed a group of eight curiously long, threadlike millipedes from the soil.
Scientists discover the first true millipede | Jonathan Lambert | January 5, 2022 | Science News For Students
Researchers nabbed the specimen and seven other curiously long, threadlike millipedes by dropping cups baited with leaf litter into drill holes used for mineral prospecting that were up to 60 meters deep.
A 1,306-legged millipede is the first to live up to its name | Jonathan Lambert | December 21, 2021 | Science News
Yet no millipede with more than 750 legs has ever been found, until now.
A 1,306-legged millipede is the first to live up to its name | Jonathan Lambert | December 21, 2021 | Science News
The unique critter was found deep underground in Western Australia and boasts up to 1,306 legs—more than the paltry 750 legs previously documented in millipedes, or indeed any other animal.
This eyeless millipede shattered the record for most legs | Kate Baggaley | December 17, 2021 | Popular-Science

If there is pathos in this, there is bathos in his apostrophe to the millipede, beginning "Poor sowbug!"
Medical Essays | Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
The monstrous millipede stood immobile, trapped for the moment by the gratification of all its desires.
The Forgotten Planet | Murray Leinster
The creature was a monstrous millipede, forty feet in length, with features of purest, unadulterated horror.
The Forgotten Planet | Murray Leinster
And this could have been safety for them—save for the giant millipede no more than half a mile below.
The Forgotten Planet | Murray Leinster
The Captain and Murray fell in at the tail of the quivering millipede.
The Trimmed Lamp | O. Henry

British Dictionary definitions for millipede

millipede

millepede milleped

/ (ˈmɪlɪˌpiːd) /

noun

any terrestrial herbivorous arthropod of the class Diplopoda, having a cylindrical body made up of many segments, each of which bears two pairs of walking legs: See also myriapod

Origin of millipede

C17: from Latin, from mille thousand + pēs foot

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 millipede

millipede

[ mĭl′ə-pēd′ ]

Any of various wormlike arthropods of the class Diplopoda, having a long body composed of many narrow segments, most of which have two pairs of legs. Millipedes feed on plants and, unlike centipedes, do not have venomous pincers. Compare centipede.

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