operculum

American  

[oh-pur-kyuh-luhm] / oʊˈpɜr kyə ləm /

noun

opercula, plural operculums plural

1. Botany, Zoology. a part or organ serving as a lid or cover, as a covering flap on a seed vessel.

2. Zoology.

   1. the gill cover of fishes and amphibians.

   2. (in many gastropods) a horny plate that closes the opening of the shell when the animal is retracted.

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operculum British  

/ əʊˈpɜːkjʊləm, əʊˈpɜːkjʊlɪt, -ˌleɪt /

noun

1. zoology

   1. the hard bony flap covering the gill slits in fishes

   2. the bony plate in certain gastropods covering the opening of the shell when the body is withdrawn

2. botany the covering of the spore-bearing capsule of a moss

3. biology any other covering or lid in various organisms

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operculum Scientific  

/ ō-pûr′kyə-ləm /

opercula plural

1. A lid or flap covering an opening, such as the gill cover in some fish or the horny flap covering the opening of a snail.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• opercular
  adjective

Inflected Forms

noun

• operculums
  plural
• opercula
  plural

Etymology

Origin of operculum

1705–15; < New Latin, Latin: lid, cover, equivalent to oper ( īre ) to cover + -culum -cule ²

Example Sentences

Operculum etiam sepulchri pede depellens, mulierem palam omnibus ab ecclesia extraxit, ubi præ foribus niger equus superbe hinniens videbatur, uncis ferreis et clavis undique confixus, super quem misera mulier projecta, ab oculis assistentium evanuit.

From Poems, 1799 by Southey, Robert

Operculum tridentatum: Suboperculum crenatum; utrumque et interoperculum latiusculum squamis satis magnis tecta.

From Discoveries in Australia, Volume 1. With an Account of the Coasts and Rivers Explored and Surveyed During The Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, in the Years 1837-38-39-40-41-42-43. By Command of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. Also a Narrative Of Captain Owen Stanley's Visits to the Islands in the Arafura Sea. by Stokes, John Lort