1.
[syn: polyp, polypus]
2. one of two forms that coelenterates take (e.g. a hydra or coral): usually sedentary with a hollow cylindrical body usually with a ring of tentacles around the mouth;
- Example: "in some species of coelenterate, polyps are a phase in the life cycle that alternates with a medusoid phase"
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Polyp \Pol"yp\, n. [L. polypus, Gr. ?, ?, literally,
many-footed; poly`s many + ?, ?, foot: cf. F. polype. See
Poly- and Foot, and cf. Polypode, Polypody, Poulp.]
(Zool.)
(a) One of the feeding or nutritive zooids of a hydroid or
coral.
(b) One of the Anthozoa.
(c) pl. Same as Anthozoa. See Anthozoa, Madreporaria,
Hydroid. [Written also polype.]
[1913 Webster]
Fresh-water polyp, the hydra.
Polyp stem (Zool.), that portion of the stem of a
siphonophore which bears the polypites, or feeding zooids.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
polyp
n 1: a small vascular growth on the surface of a mucous membrane
[syn: polyp, polypus]
2: one of two forms that coelenterates take (e.g. a hydra or
coral): usually sedentary with a hollow cylindrical body
usually with a ring of tentacles around the mouth; "in some
species of coelenterate, polyps are a phase in the life cycle
that alternates with a medusoid phase"
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
70 Moby Thesaurus words for "polyp":
abdominal hernia, abscess, aposteme, bed sore, blain, bleb,
blister, boil, bubo, bulla, bunion, canker, canker sore, carbuncle,
chancre, chancroid, chilblain, cold sore, colitis, diverticulitis,
diverticulosis, duodenal ulcer, duodenitis, eschar,
esophagal ulcer, esophagitis, felon, fester, festering,
fever blister, fistula, furuncle, furunculus, gastritis, gathering,
gumboil, hemorrhoids, hiatal hernia, kibe, lesion, megacolon,
papula, papule, paronychia, parulis, peptic ulcer, peritonitis,
petechia, piles, pimple, pock, pustule, rising, scab, soft chancre,
sore, stigma, stomach ulcer, sty, suppuration, swelling, tubercle,
ulcer, ulceration, wale, welt, wheal, whelk, whitlow, wound