Adjacent Words

tapeworm definitions

	Tweet

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: ribbonlike flatworms that are parasitic in the intestines of humans and other vertebrates [syn: tapeworm, cestode]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: from its shape Date: 1706 any of a class (Cestoda) of bilaterally symmetrical flatworms parasitic especially in the intestines of vertebrates — called also cestode

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. any flatworm of the class Cestoda, with a body like segmented tape, living as a parasite in the intestines.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Tapeworm Tape"worm`, n. (Zo["o]l.) Any one of numerous species of cestode worms belonging to T[ae]nia and many allied genera. The body is long, flat, and composed of numerous segments or proglottids varying in shape, those toward the end of the body being much larger and longer than the anterior ones, and containing the fully developed sexual organs. The head is small, destitute of a mouth, but furnished with two or more suckers (which vary greatly in shape in different genera), and sometimes, also, with hooks for adhesion to the walls of the intestines of the animals in which they are parasitic. The larv[ae] (see Cysticercus) live in the flesh of various creatures, and when swallowed by another animal of the right species develop into the mature tapeworm in its intestine. See Illustration in Appendix. Note: Three species are common parasites of man: the pork tapeworm (T[ae]nia solium), the larva of which is found in pork; the beef tapeworm (T. mediocanellata), the larva of which lives in the flesh of young cattle; and the broad tapeworm (Bothriocephalus latus) which is found chiefly in the inhabitants of the mountainous regions of Europe and Asia. See also Echinococcus, Cysticercus, Proglottis, and 2d Measles, 4.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(tapeworms) A tapeworm is a long, flat parasite which lives in the stomach and intestines of animals or people. N-COUNT

Moby Thesaurus

Chilopoda, Chordata, Echiuroidea, Ectoprocta, Entoprocta, Monoplacophora, Nemertinea, Phoronidea, angleworm, appetite, canine appetite, drought, dryness, earthworm, emptiness, empty stomach, fishworm, helminth, hollow hunger, hunger, hungriness, inchworm, measuring worm, night crawler, nightwalker, polydipsia, relish, stomach, sweet tooth, taste, thirst, thirstiness, torment of Tantalus, worm