Cupule - Definitions from Dictionary.com

4 results for: Cupule

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

cu·pule

Audio Help [kyoo-pyool] Pronunciation Key

–noun

Botany.

a.	a cup-shaped whorl of hardened, cohering bracts, as in the acorn.

b.	a cup-shaped outgrowth of the thallus of certain liverworts.

c.	the apothecium of a cup fungus.

2.	Zoology. a small cup-shaped sucker or similar organ or part.

[Origin: 1820–30; < NL cūpula, LL: small tub; see cupola

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Cupule

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

cu·pule Audio Help (kyōō'pyōōl) Pronunciation Key
n. A small cup-shaped structure or organ, such as the cup at the base of an acorn or one of the suckers on the feet of certain flies.

[Late Latin cūpula, little cask, diminutive of Latin cūpa, tub.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

cupule
noun
1.	cup-shaped structure of hardened bracts at the base of an acorn
2.	a sucker on the feet of certain flies

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Cupule

Cu"po*la\ (k?"p?-l?), n.; pl. Cupolas (-l?z). [It. cupola, LL. cupula, cuppula (cf. L. cupula little tub). fr. cupa, cuppa, cup; cf. L. cupa tub. So called on account of its resemblance to a cup turned over. See Cup, and cf. Cupule.]

1. (Arch.) A roof having a rounded form, hemispherical or nearly so; also, a ceiling having the same form. When on a large scale it is usually called dome.

2. A small structure standing on the top of a dome; a lantern.

3. A furnace for melting iron or other metals in large quantity, -- used chiefly in foundries and steel works.

4. A revolving shot-proof turret for heavy ordnance.

5. (Anat.) The top of the spire of the cochlea of the ear.

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