water bear

American  

noun

Zoology.

1. a tardigrade.

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water bear British  

noun

1. another name for a tardigrade

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water bear Scientific  

1. See tardigrade

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Etymology

Origin of water bear

First recorded in 1700–10

Example Sentences

Spectrogram images of water bear this out with Rothko-like washes of color — no jagged peaks or intensely blurred lines but rather a soothing canvas.

From Washington Post

Anything above those levels — which, in their own right, would kill the vast majority of life forms — and the water bears too will perish, according to the research they published in the journal Astrobiology.

From Salon

Tardigrades, also known as water bears, are pretty indestructible: they can survive extreme heat, radiation and even the vacuum of outer space.

From Nature

Also known as a water bear or moss piglet, a tardigrade looks something like a croissant with eight pudgy legs under a microscope.

From New York Times

A newfound species of tardigrade, or "water bear," with tendril-festooned eggs has been discovered in the parking lot of an apartment building in Japan.

From Scientific American