medusanadj.n.
/mᵻˈdjuːz(ə)n/, /mᵻˈdjuːs(ə)n/, /mᵻˈdʒuːz(ə)n/, /mᵻˈdʒuːs(ə)n/, U.S. /məˈd(j)uz(ə)n/, /məˈd(j)us(ə)n/ A. adj.
1. Chiefly with capital initial. Of, relating to, or resembling the Gorgon Medusa (Medusa n. 1).
ΚΠ
1796 ‘A. Pasquin’ Pin Basket 29 His hat he rising took, And left the room with curs'd Medusan look.
1810 S. Green Romance Readers I. ii. 31 The snaky ornament of Isis..sits formidably nodding and darting its forked tongue, to the dismay of those who would dare approach the medusan ornament.
1847 H. H. Brownell Poems 34 That Medusan stare hath frozen the smile Of Her all love and guile.
1961 J. Symons Murder! Murder! 29 The stare which Lady Jane gave him was Medusan in its malignancy.
1994 J. Malcolm Silent Woman i. vi. 49 It is Plath's (Medusan) speechlessness that is the deadly, punishing weapon.
2. Zoology. Of, relating to, or resembling a medusa (Medusa n. 2).
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Diploblastica > phylum Coelenterata > [adjective] > of or relating to the Medusae
medusan1847
medusian1852
medusidan1885
1847 J. G. Dalyell Rare Animals Scotl. I. 123 The expanding Medusan lobes.
1847 J. G. Dalyell Rare Animals Scotl. I. 123 Thus the Medusan circle is of larger diameter than the tentacular circle.
1888 G. Rolleston & W. H. Jackson Forms Animal Life (ed. 2) 761 The Medusan eye consists of sense-cells with pigmented..supporting cells.
1914 Univ. Calif. Publ. Zool. 13 239 (title) Note on the medusan genus Stomolophus.
1940 L. H. Hyman Invertebrates I. vii. 507 This [sc. the scyphistoma] is often followed by a young, free-swimming medusan stage.
1992 Bull. Marine Sci. 51 353 The identified medusan fauna is characteristic of tropical and subtropical waters.
B. n.
Zoology. A medusoid cnidarian.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Diploblastica > phylum Coelenterata > [noun] > member of
coelenterate1873
medusan1890
medusian1890
cnidarian1894
1890 Cent. Dict. Medusan,..a hydrozoan of the family Medusidæ.
1955 Pacific Sci. 9 332/1 Tetraplatians are elongate (to 9.5 mm.) medusans of bipyramidal form with ciliated outer surfaces.
1997 Jrnl. Physiol. 499 518/2 The evidence of evolutionary conservation of the fibrillin protein from medusans and sea cucumbers to humans implies [etc.].
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1796