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Octopus

[ok-tuh-puhs]

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noun, plural -pus·es, -pi

[-pahy] .

any octopod of the genus Octopus, having a soft, oval body and eight sucker-bearing arms, living mostly at the bottom of the sea.

something likened to an octopus, as an organization with many forms of far-reaching influence or control.

Origin:
1750–60; < Neo-Latin < Greek oktṓpous (plural oktṓpodes) eight-footed; see octo-, -pod

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Octopus is always a great word to know.

So is ort. Does it mean:

a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.

a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.

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Example Sentences

For a tender octopus try brining or give octopus juice a chance to do the stewing.

The technology for doing this is demonstrated daily by members of the octopus and cuttlefish families.

The common octopus can change its appearance to hide from predators-and prey.

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For a tender octopus try brining or give octopus juice a chance to do the stewing.

The technology for doing this is demonstrated daily by members of the octopus and cuttlefish families.

The common octopus can change its appearance to hide from predators-and prey.

The mimic octopus can impersonate lots of underwater creatures, including flatfish.

Prager searched unsuccessfully for two years while writing her book for a photograph of the mysterious blanket octopus.

The fantastic octopus served in restaurants is easily duplicated at home: you simply boil.

Scientists have discovered a long-armed octopus that mimics poisonous creatures of the sea to avoid its predators.

The saliva of the small blue-ringed octopus contains one of the deadliest venoms on the planet.

Vacuum-packed and perfectly tender, these octopus tentacles can be sliced for a cold seafood salad, warmed or seared.

While the discovery is so recent the octopus still.

Read to learn the blue-ringed octopus is deadly to humans.

The octopus takes a couple of hours to cook, but the process is fun to watch, and the results are splendid.

Zoo officials aren't quite sure whether their octopus is a boy or a girl.

These two, an octopus and a shark, really caught my eye.

Once, after following an octopus for an hour and a half, he looked away a moment to switch cameras.

It might want you to think otherwise, but this rare sea creature is actually an octopus.

Octopus must be boiled before it is grilled or used in a salad.

Most species of octopus have no internal skeleton, unlike other cephalopods.

Appetizers include snails, octopus and zucchini soup, and there are new desserts daily.

Spearing octopus from the sea and picking vegetables in his garden help him stay fit too.

If you have ever felt guilty about eating octopus because of its relatively large brain size, prepare to feel doubly so.

The octopus camouflages itself until a hapless victim wanders to close.

The tagines are also excellent, as are the fried seafood combo and grilled octopus.

And a mimicking octopus not only changes colors but can emulate anything from rocks to snakes.

The octopus salad may be the best in the city, and the salt-crusted pink snapper and crispy red snapper are excellent.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

octopus (ˈɒktəpəs)

—n , pl -puses
1.	any cephalopod mollusc of the genera Octopus, Eledone, etc, having a soft oval body with eight long suckered tentacles and occurring at the sea bottom: order Octopoda (octopods)
2.	a powerful influential organization with far-reaching effects, esp harmful ones
3.	another name for spider

[C18: via New Latin from Greek oktōpous having eight feet]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

octopus

1758, genus name of a type of eight-armed cephalopod mollusks, from Gk. oktopous "eight-footed," from okto "eight" (see eight) + pous "foot." Proper plural is octopodes, though octopuses probably works better in English. Octopi is from mistaken assumption that -us is the L.

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noun ending that takes -i in plural.

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Octopus

oc·to·pus