imperforate, a.
(ɪmˈpɜːfərət)
[f. im-2 + perforate.]
Not perforated; having no perforation, foramen, or opening. Chiefly in scientific and technical use; in Anat. said of parts of the body normally having an opening, when congenitally closed by malformation or in special cases; also of persons or animals so affected.
| 1673 Ray Journ. Low C., Venice 200 One of these Glass-bubbles was perforated with a little hole..the other..was imperforate. 1739 S. Sharp Operat. Surg. (R.), Sometimes children are born imperforate. 1851–6 Woodward Mollusca 100 The whorls are closely coiled, leaving only a pillar of shell, or columella, in the centre: such shells are said to be imperforate. 1857 Bullock Cazeaux' Midwif. 44 Sometimes the hymen forms a complete imperforate Membrane. 1877 L. Jewitt Half-hours among Eng. Antiq. 180 The use of these large imperforate beads..remains a mystery. 1887 L. Heitzmann tr. C. Heitzmann's Anat. IV. 80 The clitoris..has two Corpora cavernosa, a Glans which is imperforate. |
b. Of a sheet of postage, revenue, or other stamps: Not having the individual stamps separated by rows of perforations; hence of a stamp having the margin entire and not denticulated, as in ‘perforated’ specimens.
| 1885 E. B. Evans Philatelic Handbk. 118 [1d. stamp] Watermark a Small Crown; imperforate. 1893 Daily News 28 July 5/2 Fine copies of the Canadian sixpenny [postage-stamp] ‘imperforate’. |