patulous
Americanadjective
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open; gaping; expanded.
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Botany.
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spreading, as a tree or its boughs.
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spreading slightly, as a calyx.
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bearing the flowers loose or dispersed, as a peduncle.
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adjective
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botany spreading widely or expanded
patulous branches
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rare gaping
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of patulous
First recorded in 1610–20, patulous is from the Latin word patulus standing wide-open. See patent, -ulous
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Cones from 5 to 8 cm. long, short-pedunculate, erect or patulous; ovate-conic, symmetrical; apophyses rufous brown, low-pyramidal, the umbo mutic.
From The Genus Pinus by George Russell Shaw
It is all a matter of "plumbing" i.e., clearing out the "pipes," and maintaining a patulous airway.
From Bronchoscopy and Esophagoscopy A Manual of Peroral Endoscopy and Laryngeal Surgery by Chevalier Jackson
In seven months the abdomen presented the signs of pregnancy, but the cervix was soft and patulous; the sound entered three inches and was followed by some hemorrhage.
From Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine by Walter L. (Walter Lytle) Pyle
The disappearance of one eye; under a large red swelling, combined with a patulous and rubescent nose, detracted to some extent from the dignity of his appearance.
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 146, March 11, 1914 by Sir Owen Seaman
Yet, by reason of the patulous elms, he had seen nothing of them.
From Through East Anglia in a Motor Car by J. E. (James Edmund) Vincent
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
