palpociln.
/ˈpalpəsɪl/, U.S. /ˈpælpəˌsɪl/ Zoology. Now rare.
A fine hairlike palp; spec. a stiff filament in a coelenterate containing tactile cells.
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the world > animals > animal body > general parts > [noun] > feeler > hair-like
smelling-organ1596
smeller1665
palpocil1860
1860 P. H. Gosse Evenings at Microscope 392 A long and excessively attenuated hair (palpocil), which is probably a very delicate organ of touch.
1871 G. J. Allman Monogr. Gymnoblastic Hydroids p. xiv Palpocils... Microscopic, hair-like, non-vibratile processes of the ectoderm, probably organs of touch.
1888 G. Rolleston & W. H. Jackson Forms Animal Life (ed. 2) 806 Nervous elements [in Porifera]... There are two forms of them, the palpocil and synocil. The former is a delicate free process, springing from a mesoglæal cell with one or more basal outrunners.
1940 L. H. Hyman Invertebrates I. 377 These sensory nerve cells, sometimes called palpocils, presumably serve as general receptors for touch, temperature, chemical qualities.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1860