octopuslike

comparative more octopuslike · superlative most octopuslike

1. Resembling or characteristic of an octopus, for example in having eight (or many) arms.

   The divers grappled each other in an octopuslike duel.

   1961, Victor Appleton, Tom Swift and the Electronic Hydrolung

   1 more example

   A white octopuslike beast is described as something that escapes when the ice thaws to collect "escaped spirits until the next frost"; a hulking presence in the painting, it's rendered even more alarming by the diagram, in which it looms over the silhouetted man.

   2004 July 9, Fred Camper, “Living in a Dream World”, in Chicago Reader

   Synonyms: octopal, octopean, octopian, octopic, octopine, octopodal, octopodean, octopodial

2. Widespread or able (from a central point) to control or manipulate many things.

   Matsui, the Mitsubishi and other great families which had built up an octopuslike control of industry, banking and trade — would be put out of action.

   1948, Henry Robinson Luce, Time, page 26

   1 more example

   The agency announced plans yesterday to subdivide the octopuslike system and make the manager of each line responsible for everything on that line, from bunched-together trains to unintelligible public-address announcements.

   2007 December 7, James Barron, “Bigger Cars, Flip-Up Seats, Poetry: How Riders Would Run a Subway”, in New York Times