Definition of "polypus"

polypus

/ˈpɑlɪpəs/

noun
plural polypi or polypuses
1. A medical phenomenon.
  1. (medicine) A polyp.
    Quotations
    The nasal passages should be carefully examined for symptoms of stegnosis, enlargement of the turbinated bones, polypi, etc.
    1898, Werner's magazine, volume 20
  2. (hematology, pathology) A cardiac thrombus usually found post-mortem.
2. An aquatic creature.
  1. (obsolete) A tentacled cephalopod, such as an octopus, squid, or cuttlefish.
    Quotations
    He had been becalmed in the tropical seas, and had watched, in eager expectation, though unhappily always in vain, to see the colossal polypus rise from the water, and entwine its enormous arms round the masts and the rigging.
    1818, Thomas Love Peacock, Nightmare Abbey, section VII
    From many a wondrous grot and secret cellUnnumbered and enormous polypiWinnow with giant arms the slumbering green.
    1830, Alfred Tennyson, “The Kraken”, in Poems, Chiefly Lyrical
  2. (now rare) Any of various simple aquatic invertebrates having mouths surrounded by tentacles, including hydrozoa and anthozoa.