polypus

plural polypi · plural polypuses

1. A medical phenomenon.
   1. medicineA polyp.First known use 14th c.

      The nasal passages should be carefully examined for symptoms of stegnosis, enlargement of the turbinated bones, polypi, etc.

      1898, Werner's magazine, volume 20

   2. hematologyA cardiac thrombus usually found post-mortem.First known use 17th c.
2. An aquatic creature.
   1. obsoleteA tentacled cephalopod, such as an octopus, squid, or cuttlefish.First known use 16th–19th c.

      From many a wondrous grot and secret cell Unnumbered and enormous polypi Winnow with giant arms the slumbering green.

      1830, Alfred Tennyson, “The Kraken”, in Poems, Chiefly Lyrical

      1 more example

      He had been becalmed in the tropical seas, and had watched, in eager expectation, though unhappily always in vain, to see the colossal polypus rise from the water, and entwine its enormous arms round the masts and the rigging.

      1818, Thomas Love Peacock, Nightmare Abbey, section VII

   2. archaicAny of various simple aquatic invertebrates having mouths surrounded by tentacles, including hydrozoa and anthozoa; including the sessile life stages of organisms whose corresponding free-swimming stage is the medusa.First known use 18th c.