polyp
[pol-ip]
- Zoology.
- a sedentary type of animal form characterized by a more or less fixed base, columnar body, and free end with mouth and tentacles, especially as applied to coelenterates.
- an individual zooid of a compound or colonial organism.
- Pathology. a projecting growth from a mucous surface, as of the nose, being either a tumor or a hypertrophy of the mucous membrane.
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Origin of polyp
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for polyps
Contemporary Examples
Follow-up colonoscopies three years hence determined the presence or absence of polyps.
Known as polyps or adenomas, benign tumors in the colon have the potential to become cancerous.
Historical Examples
The first is called the polypidom, the second is the colony of polyps.
The Ocean World:Louis Figuier
The flying fish and the polyps are the habitual prey of the Physalia.
The Ocean World:Louis Figuier
Here we leave the group of polyps which form united families.
The Ocean World:Louis Figuier
Then one of the polyps becomes enlarged and its form cylindrical.
The Ocean World:Louis Figuier
The cells, which are the abode of the polyps, are not always alike in their distribution.
The Ocean World:Louis Figuier
polyp
- zoology one of the two forms of individual that occur in coelenterates. It usually has a hollow cylindrical body with a ring of tentacles around the mouthCompare medusa (def. 2)
- Also called: polypus pathol a small vascularized growth arising from the surface of a mucous membrane, having a rounded base or a stalklike projection
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Word Origin
C16 polip, from French polype nasal polyp, from Latin pōlypus sea animal, nasal polyp, from Greek polupous having many feet
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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Word Origin and History for polyps
polyp
n.
c.1400, "nasal tumor," from Middle French polype and directly from Latin polypus "cuttlefish," also "nasal tumor," from Greek (Doric, Aeolic) polypos "octopus, cuttlefish," from polys "many" (see poly-) + pous "foot" (see foot (n.)). Etymological sense revived 1742 as a name for hydras and sea anemones (earlier polypus, early 16c.). The Latin word is the source of French poulpe "octopus."
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
polyp
(pŏl′ĭp)- A usually nonmalignant growth of tissue protruding from the mucous lining of an organ such as the nose, bladder, or intestine, often causing obstruction.polypus
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
polyp
[pŏl′ĭp]
- A cnidarian in its sedentary stage. Polyps have hollow, tube-shaped bodies with a central mouth on top surrounded by tentacles. Some cnidarians, such as corals and sea anemones, only exist as polyps after their larval stage, while others turn into medusas as adults or lack a polyp stage completely. Compare medusa.
- An abnormal growth extending from a mucous membrane, as of the intestine.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.