animalculousadj.
/ˌanᵻˈmalkjᵿləs/, U.S. /ˌænəˈmæ(l)kjələs/ Now rare.
= animalcular adj. 1.
ΚΠ
1772 N. D. Falck Treat. Venereal Dis. iii. iv. 387 An anthelmintic is any thing that will destroy worms, and animalculous vermin.
1782 G. A. Stevens Songs, Comic & Satyrical (ed. 2) 137 Those Atoms of Clay which you see to and fro, Skip about on yon' Globular Crust, Like the blue on a plumb are but Insects you know A mere Animalculous Dust.
1871 M. F. Squier tr. A. Morelet Trav. C. Amer. vi. 239 The pores of the skin will speedily be invaded by a host of animalculous tigers.
1879 W. S. Gilbert Pirates of Penzance i. 14 I'm very good at integral & differential calculus, I know the scientific names of beings animalculous.
1923 Phi Gamma Delta May 782/1 Chemistry, calculus, Germs animalculous, Stems philological, Subjects hodge-podgical.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.1772