octopoidadj.
/ˈɒktəpɔɪd/, U.S. /ˈɑktəˌpɔɪd/ Esp. in figurative contexts: resembling or suggestive of an octopus, or the tentacles of an octopus; octopus-like.
ΚΠ
1878 Catholic World Oct. 63 A mass of hideous sucker pustules showing here, an inflating, self-swallowing, turning-inside-out process going on there, in the indescribable-octopoid? octo-what?-fashion.
1933 Economica No. 42. 457 The chief causes of the large proportion of overhead costs are:..ii. The peculiar nature of ‘octopoid’ distributing plant.
1957 Amer. Econ. Rev. 47 1018 Innes turned from his study of the fur trade and of the Canadian Pacific Railway, which also was octopoid and monopolistic.
1966 Q. Rev. Biol. 41 74/1 It is..a fascinating account.., with [a]..short review of topics such as growth of nerve terminals and the logical difficulties of thinking about brains., although sometimes these discussions are difficult to disentangle from the octopoid growth.
1998 K. Lette Altar Ego xvi. 145 In the muffled blue light, the writhing audience looked like an octopoid creature.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, March 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1878- in a twinkling at a
- in a twinkling at in the twinkling
- in a twit
- in a twitch
- in a twitter
- in a wanion
- in a waver
- in a way
- in a way of
- in a whiff
- in a whisk
- in a whisper
- in a whistle
- in a whole skin
- in a widden-dream
- in a widdendream
- in a will
- in a wink
- in a wood
- in a word
- in a world
- in a —— mood
- in a, with a twinkling of an eye
- in a, with the twinkling of an eye
- in a, with twinkling of an eye