petiole
Americannoun
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Botany. the slender stalk by which a leaf is attached to the stem; leafstalk.
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Zoology. a stalk or peduncle, as that connecting the abdomen and thorax in wasps.
noun
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the stalk by which a leaf is attached to the rest of the plant
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zoology a slender stalk or stem, such as the connection between the thorax and abdomen of ants
Etymology
Origin of petiole
1745–55; < New Latin petiolus leafstalk, special use of Latin petiolus, scribal variant of peciolus, probably for *pediciolus, diminutive of pediculus pedicle
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.
"The abdomen and cephalothorax of spiders are closely attached, while in ants the equivalent of these body parts are separated by a narrow segment called the petiole," Poinar said.
From Science Daily • Mar. 22, 2024
The sensed leaf spectral data are analyzed by a machine-learning algorithm — trained on historical data — to estimate petiole nutrients with near real-time results.
From Salon • Nov. 28, 2023
A challenge when conducting tissue analysis lies in the precise selection of the appropriate petiole for sampling.
From Salon • Nov. 28, 2023
A leaf petiole attaches directly to the stem at a bud node, whereas a leaflet petiole is attached to the main petiole or the midrib, not the stem.
From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022
Cotyledons thick and fleshy.—Herbs, with palmately 1–15-foliolate leaves, stipules adnate to base of the petiole, and showy flowers in terminal racemes or spikes.
From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Gray, Asa
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.
