octamerous, a. Nat. Hist.
(ɒkˈtæmərəs)
Also octomerous (-ˈɒm-).
[f. Gr. ὀκταµερ-ής in eight parts (µέρος part) + -ous.]
a. Bot. Having the parts of the flower in series of eight. (Often written 8-merous.) b. Zool. Having the radiating parts or organs eight in number, as an actinoid zoophyte.
| 1864 Webster, Octamerous (Bot.), having the parts in eights. Gray. 1875 Bennett & Dyer tr. Sachs' Bot. 565 Pentamerous flowers and..those which are truly tetramerous (or octamerous). 1877 Huxley Anat. Inv. Anim. iii. 159 The finally hexamerous Anthozoon passes through a tetramerous and an octomerous stage. |
So ocˈtamerism, the state of being octamerous (humorously, the state of being in eight parts).
| 1873 Whitney Orient. Stud. 133 Announced..to form eight volumes..perhaps the estimated octamerism of the work was meant to be understood in some peculiar sense. |