subulate

[ soo-byuh-lit, -leyt ]

/ ˈsu byə lɪt, -ˌleɪt /

adjective Biology.

slender, somewhat cylindrical, and tapering to a point; awl-shaped.

Nearby words

Origin of subulate

1750–60; < New Latin sūbulātus, equivalent to Latin sūbul(a) awl + -ātus -ate¹

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

Examples from the Web for subulate

Stipules nearly free, subulate, or very narrow, usually deciduous.
Parsons on the Rose|Samuel Browne Parsons
The pharyngeal teeth are subulate and acute, and of unequal heights.
Discoveries in Australia, Volume 1.|J Lort Stokes
Receptacle convex to subulate, chaffy, the scarious chaff not embracing the smooth dorsally compressed achenes.
The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States|Asa Gray
Tentacula depressed, subulate, at the external base of which are the eyes.
Zoological Illustrations, Volume II|William Swainson

The leaf-sheath is glabrous or slightly hairy, the upper ones being shorter and dilated into spathes with subulate tips.
A Handbook of Some South Indian Grasses|Rai Bahadur K. Ranga Achariyar

British Dictionary definitions for subulate

subulate

/ (ˈsuːbjəlɪt, -ˌleɪt) /

adjective

(esp of plant parts) tapering to a point; awl-shaped

Word Origin for subulate

C18: from New Latin subulatus like an awl, from Latin sūbula awl

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