adjective
noun
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A gastropod, especially one with a single shell, such as a snail, cone, whelk, abalone, or limpet. Univalves belong to the subclass Prosobranchia. Their shells are usually spiral and can hold the whole animal inside.
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Compare bivalve
Etymology
Origin of univalve
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.
At certain seasons the soldier-crabs resort to the sea-shore, and then return from their pilgrimage, each carrying with them, or rather dragging, the shell of some marine univalve for many a weary mile.
From Principles of Geology or, The Modern Changes of the Earth and its Inhabitants Considered as Illustrative of Geology by Sir Charles Lyell
The Scalaria pretiosa, a very elegant univalve shell, much valued by collectors.
From The Sailor's Word-Book An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc. by Sir Edward Belcher
A genus of fossil univalve shells, believed to belong to the Heteropoda, peculiar to the Paleozoic age.
From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (2nd 100 Pages) by Noah Webster
A shell pin made from the columella of a large univalve.
From Illustrated Catalogue of a Portion of the Collections Made During the Field Season of 1881 Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1881-82, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1884, pages 427-510 by William Henry Holmes
Although this animal was sometimes seen dead without any covering, it was generally found contained in a thin and slightly elastic univalve shell of graceful form, and bearing some resemblance to an elegantly shaped boat.
From Sea Monsters Unmasked and Sea Fables Explained by H. W. (Henry William) Lee
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.
