octopus
[ok-tuh-puh s]
- any octopod of the genus Octopus, having a soft, oval body and eight sucker-bearing arms, living mostly at the bottom of the sea.
- something likened to an octopus, as an organization with many forms of far-reaching influence or control.
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Origin of octopus
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for octopus
Contemporary Examples
Sadly, Paul the Octopus did not outlive his impressive but unpopular World Cup predictions by long.
The Amazing Tale of Paul the Psychic Octopus: Germany’s World Cup SoothsayerEmily Shire
July 12, 2014
It's at a time like this that Germans yearn most for Paul the Octopus, the great mollusk soothsayer for Germany.
The Amazing Tale of Paul the Psychic Octopus: Germany’s World Cup SoothsayerEmily Shire
July 12, 2014
Octopus is one of those sleazy and boorish Americans whose instincts prove correct.
They are the Tarpon, the Falcon, the Sea Fox, and the Octopus.
Read ‘The King in Yellow,’ the ‘True Detective’ Reference That’s the Key to the ShowRobert W. Chambers
February 20, 2014
Instead, as Guy Lawson writes in Octopus, Israel engineered a haphazard plan to fake his own death.
Historical Examples
It was only at the hotel with Pre Batifoul that I learnt about the octopus.
My Double LifeSarah Bernhardt
Not until she was elbow deep in suds did she recall her dreams about the octopus.
Weak on Square RootsRussell Burton
The squid is a very small edition of the giant devilfish or octopus.
The Harbor of DoubtFrank Williams
No octopus, no matter what proportions, filled the description.
And so far, getting along with Russia was like trying to get along with an octopus.
SlingshotIrving W. Lande
octopus
- any cephalopod mollusc of the genera Octopus, Eledone, etc, having a soft oval body with eight long suckered tentacles and occurring at the sea bottom: order Octopoda (octopods)
- a powerful influential organization with far-reaching effects, esp harmful ones
- another name for spider (def. 8)
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Word Origin
C18: via New Latin from Greek oktōpous having eight feet
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for octopus
n.
1758, genus name of a type of eight-armed cephalopod mollusks, from Greek oktopous, literally "eight-footed," from okto "eight" (see eight) + pous "foot" (see foot (n.)). Proper plural is octopodes, though octopuses probably works better in English. Octopi is from mistaken assumption that -us in this word is the Latin noun ending that takes -i in plural.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper