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.
The bisected shell appeared to be a spinal univalve, resembling the familiar cephalopoda, nautilus, with thin septa dividing the many chambers.
From Made in Tanganyika by Jacobi, Carl Richard
Cochleate: spirally twisted like a screw or a univalve shell.
From Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology by Smith, John. B.
A univalve shell frequently represented is of an oval shape, pointed at each end, with a longitudinal lip and a short spire at one extremity.
From Animal Figures in the Maya Codices by Tozzer, Alfred M. (Alfred Marston)
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 Lee, H. W. (Henry William)
And when the chambered shells, whose occupants were carnivorous, disappeared with the secondary period, numerous univalve mollusks were created to feed on other animals; although previously that family were herbivorous.
From The Religion of Geology and Its Connected Sciences by Hitchcock, Edward
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.
