pod

[pod]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR pod ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a somewhat elongated, two-valved seed vessel, as that of the pea or bean.

a dehiscent fruit or pericarp having several seeds.

Entomology.

an insect egg case.
a compact mass of insect eggs.

a streamlined enclosure, housing, or detachable container of some kind: an engine pod under the wing of an aircraft.

a protective compartment, as for an automobile's instrument gauges.

Mining. an orebody that has an elongated or lenticular shape.

Radio and Television Slang. a cluster of brief commercials or spot announcements.

verb (used without object), pod·ded, pod·ding.

to produce pods.

to swell out like a pod.

Origin of pod

1680–90; apparently back formation from podder peasecod gatherer; comparepodder, variant of podware, unexplained variant of codware bagged vegetables (cod² + -ware crops, vegetables)

Related formspod·like, adjectiveun·pod·ded, adjective

pod

[pod]

noun

a small herd or school, especially of seals or whales.

a small flock of birds.

Origin of pod

1825–35, Americanism; perhaps special (orig. facetious) use of pod¹

pod

[pod]

noun

the straight groove or channel in the body of certain augers or bits.

Carpentry. pad¹(def 15b).

Origin of pod

1565–75; origin uncertain; perhaps a continuation of Old English pād covering, cloak, the socket being thought of as something that covers or hides from view what is held in it (though the phonology is irregular)

POD

port of debarkation.

pod-

a learned borrowing from Greek meaning “foot,” used in the formation of compound words: pododynia.

Also especially before a consonant, podo-.

Origin of pod-

combining form representing Greek poús (genitive podós) foot

-pod

a combining form meaning “one having a foot” of the kind or number specified by the initial element; often corresponding to Neo-Latin class names ending in -poda, with -pod used in English to name a single member of such a class: cephalopod.

Compare -ped.

Origin of -pod

< New Latin < Greek -pod-, stem of -pous, adj. derivative of poús foot

p.o.'d

[pee-ohd]

adjective Slang.

pissed off.

P.O.D.

pay on delivery.

Post Office Department.

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

Related Words for pod

capsule, husk, skin, case, shell, covering, hull, vessel, sheath, shuck, sheathing

Examples from the Web for pod

Contemporary Examples of pod

But at Cheshire, prisoners rarely, if ever, leave their pod.
‘Progressive Jail’ Is a 21st-Century Hell, Inmates Complain
Sarah Shourd
September 29, 2014
When he first tries the pods for himself, he fails to realize that a fly has made its way into the other pod.
Zac Efron, Tom Cruise & More Actors in Their Tighty Whities (VIDEO)
Mike Munoz
October 4, 2012
Top adviser Eric Fehrnstrom told MSNBC that Santorum and Gingrich are “two peas in a pod—longtime Washington legislators.”
Romney Losing His Mojo After Caucus, Primary Losses to Santorum
Howard Kurtz
February 9, 2012
Sixteen years later, scientists saw numbers restored in one pod but not the other.
Are These Dolphins Doomed?
Eli Kintisch
May 7, 2010

Historical Examples of pod

She is her father's own child and she is like him as two pase in the pod.
Her Father's Daughter
Gene Stratton-Porter
Over five thousand betting, and the guesses as close as peas in a pod.
The Trail of '98
Robert W. Service
The pod is elliptical, and the cotton which bursts from it at maturity is snow-white.
The Philippine Islands
John Foreman
Rub the warts with the inside of a bean pod, and then throw the pod away.
Welsh Folk-Lore
Elias Owen
"Yellow cotton" was cotton which for any reason had been stained in the pod.
Letters from Port Royal
Various

British Dictionary definitions for pod

pod

noun

the fruit of any leguminous plant, consisting of a long two-valved case that contains seeds and splits along both sides when ripe
the seedcase as distinct from the seeds

any similar fruit

a streamlined structure attached by a pylon to an aircraft and used to house a jet engine (podded engine), fuel tank, armament, etc

an enclosed cabin suspended from a cable or a big wheel, for carrying passengers

verb pods, podding or podded

(tr) to remove the pod or shell from (peas, beans, etc)

(intr) (of a plant) to produce pods

Word Origin for pod

C17: perhaps back formation from earlier podware bagged vegetables, probably from pod, variant of cod ² + ware 1

pod

noun

a small group of animals, esp seals, whales, or birds

Word Origin for pod

C19: of unknown origin

pod

noun

a straight groove along the length of certain augers and bits

the socket that holds the bit in a boring tool

Word Origin for pod

C16: of unknown origin

POD

abbreviation for

pay on delivery

abbreviation for

print on demand

-pod

-pode

n combining form

indicating a certain type or number of feetarthropod; tripod

Word Origin for -pod

from Greek -podos footed, from pous foot

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 pod

n.1

"seed of beans," 1680s, of uncertain origin; found earlier in podware "seed of legumes, seed grain" (mid-15c.), which had a parallel form codware "husked or seeded plants" (late 14c.), related to cod "husk of seeded plants," which was in Old English. In reference to pregnancy from 1890; in reference to a round belly from 1825. Meaning "detachable body of an aircraft" is from 1950. Pod people (1956) is from movie "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," based on novel by Jack Finney.

n.2

"herd of whales or seals," 1827, American English, of unknown origin.

pod in Science

pod

[pŏd]

A fruit or seed case that usually splits along two seams to release its seeds when mature. Legumes, such as peas and beans, produce pods.

-pod

A suffix meaning foot. It is used in the scientific names of the members of many groups of organisms, such as arthropod, an organism having jointed feet, and sauropod, a dinosaur having lizard feet. It is also used in the names of different kinds of limbs or limblike body parts, such as pseudopod, the false foot of an amoeba.