retractile
/rɪˈtraktʌɪl
/adjective Zoology
Capable of being retracted: a long retractile proboscis...
- In Australia, for example, marsupial herbivores the size of a rhinoceros, kangaroos nearly 10 feet tall, and carnivorous lion-like forms with shearing teeth and retractile claws all roamed the landscape.
- Like scaphopods, bivalves have a retractile foot which they use to burrow.
- The morphology of the middle and distal phalanx in Tapocyon exhibits a retractile claw condition, supporting this as the primitive condition for Carnivora / Carnivoramorpha.
Derivatives
retractility
- The pull cord mechanism for the self-opening umbrella constitutes at least a core tube rest, a core tube, a plurality of sheaves, a lower shaft, a center shaft and a string of pull cord, in which the center shaft contains several sections of short shaft for retractility.
- Telephone cords used to connect a handset to a base should have sufficient retractility to insure that they will return in a controlled gradual manner to their normal retracted position after having been extended and released.
Origin
Late 18th century: from retract, on the pattern of contractile.