poriferousadj.
/pɒˈrɪf(ə)rəs/, U.S. /pɔˈrɪf(ə)rəs/ΚΠ
1833 R. E. Grant Outl. Course of Lect. Struct. & Classif. of Animals 25 Class Porifera. Characters and organization of Poriferous animals.
1833 R. E. Grant in Lancet 2 Nov. 197/1 The next class of animals, the poriferous, is one which presents various and remarkable forms in the skeleton. The poriferous is that class which comprehends all the spongy masses before you.
2. Having pores; (Zoology) designating an area of the test of a sea urchin having numerous pores (distinguished from those areas without pores).
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > condition of being open or not closed > an opening or aperture > [adjective] > having (a) hole(s) > having (spec. type of) pores
pored1693
poriferous1863
1863 J. D. Dana Man. Geol. iii. 313 The poriferous side of the same.
1885 Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 12 20 Here we see the same folding of the filament (reversion)..the poriferous extremities of the thecæ pointing downward, but at the same time inward.
1920 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) B. 209 395 The belt of pore-pairs extending down an ambulacral column is called the pore-field or poriferous-tract.
1961 J. Stubblefield Davies's Introd. Palaeontol. (ed. 3) viii. 207 Echinus (Cret.-Rec.), the common sea-urchin, has plates compounded of two primaries and one demi-; pores triserial; poriferous zone narrow.
1983 Amer. Jrnl. Bot. 70 73/2 The laticifers..were composed of a dense, yet poriferous, isoprenoid content originally present in the cell.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1833