tapetum
Americannoun
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tapeta
plural
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Botany. a layer of cells often investing the archespore in a developing sporangium and absorbed as the spores mature.
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Anatomy, Zoology. any of certain membranous layers or layered coverings, as in the choroid of the eyes of certain animals.
noun
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a layer of nutritive cells in the sporangia of ferns and anthers of flowering plants that surrounds developing spore cells
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a membranous reflecting layer of cells in the choroid of the eye of nocturnal vertebrates
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a similar structure in the eyes of certain nocturnal insects
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anatomy a covering layer of cells behind the retina of the eye
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of tapetum
1705–15; < New Latin, special use of Medieval Latin tapētum coverlet ( Latin, only plural) < Greek tapēt- (stem of tápēs ) carpet, rug
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.
See Examples For:
But the blue tapetum also lets up to 60% of ultraviolet light pass through to the eye's color sensors.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 15, 2023
They even have a unique structure in their eyes called the tapetum lucidum, a mirrorlike membrane that allows them to see in six times less light than humans can.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 4, 2023
Inside the pollen sac is a layer called the tapetum, and within this ring are the microspore mother cells.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015
There is green “eye shine” from the tapetum lucidum, and a more pronounced superciliary arch.
From Forbes ● Jun. 7, 2013
Surrounding the pitted wall of the ovum there is a definite layer of large cells, no doubt representing a tapetum, which, as in cycads and conifers, plays an important part in nourishing the growing egg-cell.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 7 "Gyantse" to "Hallel" by Various
At 7:50 a.m. on Tuesday, he worked a half mile in 48.40 seconds under the exercise rider Dimitrios Dimitropoulos on Sagamore’s tapeta training track.
From New York Times ● Jun. 8, 2011
The lynx's pupils were wide open, and the golden-yellow tapeta in the backs of her eyeballs were glowing like incandescent lamps.
From Forest Neighbors Life Stories of Wild Animals by William Davenport Hulbert
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.
