释义 |
vermiform, a.|ˈvɜːmɪfɔːm| [ad. med.L. vermiform-is (whence F., It., Sp., and Pg. vermiforme), f. L. vermis worm: see -form. Cf. vermes and vermis. Vermiformal is used by Urquhart Rabelais (1653) ii. xiii, translating F. vermiforme.] 1. Zool. Having the form of a worm; resembling a worm in appearance or shape; long, thin, and more or less cylindrical.
1730Bailey (fol.), Vermiform,..shaped like a Worm. 1816Kirby & Sp. Entomol. I. 437 A covering of vermiform masses, apparently composed of honey and pollen. 1828Stark Elem. Nat. Hist. II. 211 Body elongated, but not vermiform or linear. 1857Fraser's Mag. LVI. 641 [It] feeds on the insects with its protruded vermiform tongue. 1881Darwin Veg. Mould iv. (1882) 186 Five or six vermiform castings had been thrown up. b. Of animals.
1826Kirby & Sp. Entomol. IV. xlvii. 374 One species, which much resembles the vermiform larvæ of Hymenoptera. 1846Patterson Zool. 57 The Leeches and Worms present very much the same aspect as the vermiform or worm-shaped Echinodermata. 1846Carpenter Man. Phys. 505 In some of the lowest Vermiform (worm-like) Fishes, such as the Lamprey. 1883Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 283 These young vermiform and semi-transparent eels. c. spec. (see quot.).
1877Coues Fur Anim. iv. 116 In general form, the Stoat typifies a group of carnivorous Mammals aptly called ‘vermiform’, in consideration of the extreme length, tenuity and mobility of the trunk, and shortness of the limbs. 2. Of or pertaining to, characteristic of, a worm; like or resembling that of a worm; vermicular.
1835–6Todd's Cycl. Anat. I. 327/2 The Spleen..in Birds..sometimes presents an elongated and vermiform shape. 1859Darwin Orig. Spec. (1860) xiii. 442 If we look to the admirable drawings..of the development of this insect, we see no trace of the vermiform stage. 1878Bell Gegenbaur's Comp. Anat. 118 In the Discophora they form tufts of filaments,..and execute vermiform movements. 3. Anat. a. vermiform appendix or vermiform appendage, a small, worm-like process or diverticulum extending from the cæcum in man and a few other mammals. (a)1778Encycl. Brit. (ed. 2) I. 368/2 Of the little vermiform appendix of the cæcum, it will be sufficient to say that its uses have never yet been ascertained. 1872Huxley Phys. vi. 150 An elongated, blind process..which from its shape is called the vermiform appendix of the cæcum. 1888Rolleston & Jackson Anim. Life 28 Caecum with vermiform appendix..of rabbit. (b)1841T. R. Jones Anim. Kingd. 680 In Man, the Orangs,..and the Wombat,..both cæcum and vermiform appendage are met with. 1876J. S. Bristowe The. & Pract. Med. (1878) 674 Concretions are mostly found in the vermiform appendage and are the usual causes of perforative ulceration of this part. b. vermiform process, the median lobe of the cerebellum, the upper and lower laminæ of which are distinguished as the superior vermiform process and inferior vermiform processes. Also, = prec. (In some recent Dicts.)
1836Penny Cycl. V. 332/1 The cerebellum... In the centre of its upper surface there is a distinct prominence termed the vermiform process. 1840E. Wilson Anat. Vade M. (1842) 383 The cerebellum is divided into two lateral hemispheres or lobes, two minor lobes called superior and inferior vermiform processes, and some small lobules. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VII. 497 A very little lymph on the superior vermiform process of the cerebellum. Hence vermiformous a., ‘shaped like a worm’ (Bailey, 1727, vol. II). |