octopus

[ok-tuh-puh s]

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noun, plural oc·to·pus·es, oc·to·pi [ok-tuh-pahy] /ˈɒk təˌpaɪ/.

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.

Nearby words

Origin of octopus

1750–60; < New Latin < Greek oktṓpous (plural oktṓpodes) eight-footed; see octo-, -pod

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for octopus

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 Soothsayer|Emily Shire|July 12, 2014|DAILY BEAST
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 Soothsayer|Emily Shire|July 12, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Octopus is one of those sleazy and boorish Americans whose instincts prove correct.
This 1979 Novel Predicted Putin’s Invasion Of Crimea|Michael Weiss|May 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST
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 Show|Robert W. Chambers|February 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Instead, as Guy Lawson writes in Octopus, Israel engineered a haphazard plan to fake his own death.
First Rule of the Fake Dead Bankers Club: Stay Gone|Daniel Gross|January 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In the first place, it may surprise you to know that the Octopus's body is made on the same plan as that of the snail.
Within the Deep|R. Cadwallader Smith
One of these was called the Octopus, the first submarine to be fitted with twin screws.
Aircraft and Submarines|Willis J. Abbot.
He was a football player too; his hug was that of an octopus which swallowed you all.
Lore of Proserpine|Maurice Hewlett
When the octopus reached the shore off ran the rat into the bush.
Samoa, A Hundred Years Ago And Long Before|George Turner
It was seen in the turtle, the sea eel, the octopus, and the garden lizard.
Samoa, A Hundred Years Ago And Long Before|George Turner

British Dictionary definitions for octopus

octopus

noun plural -puses

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)

Word Origin for octopus

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 Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for octopus

octopus

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.