Adjacent Words
Elymus trachycaulosELYON
Elyot
Elyria
Elysia
Elysian
Elysian Fields
Elysium
Elysiums
Elytis
Elytra
Elytriform
Elytrin
Elytroid
Elytrum
ELZ
Elzabad
Elzaphan
Elzevier
Elzevir
Em
em quad
em-
ema
Emacerate
Emaceration
Full-text Search for "elytron"
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elytron definitions
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)
n
1: either of the horny front wings in beetles and some other insects which cover and protect the functional hind wings [syn: wing case, elytron]
Merriam Webster's
noun (plural elytra) Etymology: New Latin, from Greek, sheath, wing cover, from eilyein to roll, wrap — more at voluble Date: 1774 one of the anterior wings in beetles and some other insects that serve to protect the posterior pair of functional wings
Oxford Reference Dictionary
n. (pl. elytra) the outer hard usu. brightly coloured wing-case of a coleopterous insect. Etymology: Gk elutron sheath
Webster's 1913 Dictionary
Elytron El"y*tron (?; 277), Elytrum El"y*trum (-tr?m)n.; pl. Elytra. [NL., fr. Gr. ?, fr. ? to roll round.] (Zo["o]l.) (a) One of the anterior pair of wings in the Coleoptera and some other insects, when they are thick and serve only as a protection for the posterior pair. See Coleoptera. (b) One of the shieldlike dorsal scales of certain annelids. See Ch[ae]topoda.
