1.
[syn: stony coral, madrepore, madriporian coral]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Madrepore \Mad"re*pore\, n. [F. madrepore, perh. fr. madr['e]
spotted, fr. OF. madre, mazre, a kind of knotty wood with
brown spots, fr. OHG. masar a knot, grain, or vein in wood, a
speck, G. maser + pore (see Pore); or perh. F. madr['e]pore
is rather from It. madrepora, and this perh. fr. It. madre
mother (see Mother) + Gr. ? a soft stone.] (Zool.)
Any coral of the genus Madrepora, a group of corals having
calcareous skeletons aggregations of which form reefs and
islands; formerly, often applied to any stony coral.
Syn: stony coral, madriporian coral.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
madrepore
n 1: corals having calcareous skeletons aggregations of which
form reefs and islands [syn: stony coral, madrepore,
madriporian coral]