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.
Yet, by reason of the patulous elms, he had seen nothing of them.
From Through East Anglia in a Motor Car by Vincent, J. E. (James Edmund)
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 Seaman, Owen, Sir
The gland-ducts are enlarged, patulous or plugged with sebaceous and epithelial matter.
From Essentials of Diseases of the Skin Including the Syphilodermata Arranged in the Form of Questions and Answers Prepared Especially for Students of Medicine by Stelwagon, Henry Weightman
Weather jolly, but altogether too hot for anything but lying on the grass "under the tegmination of the patulous fage," as the poet observes.
From Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley — Volume 2 by Huxley, Thomas Henry
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 Jackson, Chevalier
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.
