polyp
/ˈpɒlɪp
/noun
1 Zoology A solitary or colonial sedentary form of a coelenterate such as a sea anemone, typically having a columnar body with the mouth uppermost surrounded by a ring of tentacles. In some species, polyps are a phase in the life cycle which alternates with a medusoid phase. Compare with medusa.A few, such as Hydra, are solitary polyps that lack a medusoid stage....
- Most hydrozoans alternate between a polyp and a medusa stage - they spend part of their lives as ‘jellyfish’ which are hard to distinguish from scyphozoan jellyfish.
- Instead, many used a scenario approach to conclude that solitary sessile polyps represent the ancestral cnidarian form.
2 Medicine A small growth, usually benign and with a stalk, protruding from a mucous membrane.The laser can also provide relief for symptoms caused by benign airway tumors such as hamartomas, papillomas, polyps, and angiomas....
- What's more, most tumors start out as polyps, or benign growths, in the colon.
- Screening for and removal of colorectal cancer and precancerous adenomatous polyps can decrease the incidence of colon disease.
Derivatives
polypous
- This constraint of cell proliferation to the border was also obtained even for polypous carcinomas.
- Experience in observation and treatment of 193 patients with polypous lesions of the gallbladder (PLGB) was analyzed.
Origin
Late Middle English (in sense 2): from Old French polipe, from Latin polypus (see polypus). sense 1 dates from the mid 18th century.