‖ cephalopoda, n. pl. Zool.
(sɛfəˈlɒpədə)
[mod.L., f. Gr. κεϕαλή head + πούς (ποδ-) foot. For the sing. cephalopod or cephalopodan is used.]
The most highly organized class of Mollusca, characterized by a distinct head with ‘arms’ or tentacles attached to it; comprising Cuttle-fishes, the Nautilus, etc., and numerous fossil species.
| 1802 Med. Jrnl. VIII. 372 The cuttlefish, one of the cephalopoda. 1851 Richardson Geol. viii. 230 The Cephalopoda have..their locomotive organs arranged round the head, in the form of eight or more arms or tentacula. |
Hence cephaˈlopodal, ˌcephaloˈpodic adjs. = next.; cephaˈlopodan a., in same sense; n. = cephalopod.
| 1885 A. Stewart Twixt Ben Nevis & Gl. iii. 25 Arrived at the years of Cepholopodal discretion. 1854 Huxley in Woodward Mollusca (1856) 447 It takes on the cephalopodic form. 1859 Darwin Orig. Spec. xiv. (1872) 390 The cephalopodic character. |