Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A gill or similar organ of respiration.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One of the constituents of the branchial apparatus; a gill. See branchiæ
  • Same as branchiæ.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Anat.) A gill; a respiratory organ for breathing the air contained in water, such as many aquatic and semiaquatic animals have.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A gill or other organ having the same function.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun respiratory organ of aquatic animals that breathe oxygen dissolved in water

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin, from Greek brankhia, gills.]

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Examples

  • The orifice opens into the branchial cavity behind a conical lobe, which stands above the third foot in place of a branchia which is wanting in Ocypoda.

    Facts and Arguments for Darwin Fritz Muller 1859

  • The two apertures lie just above the edge of the fold of membrane which runs from the inner root of the larger or outer branchia, across the branchial cavity and beneath the rectum, to the other side.

    Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society - Vol. 3 Zoology Various

  • Tadpoles (after they have cast their branchia or gills), newts, and rock fish can be used to the extent of six to the gallon.

    Scientific American, Volume XLIII., No. 25, December 18, 1880 A Weekly Journal of Practical Information, Art, Science, Mechanics, Chemistry, and Manufactures. Various

  • There are five branchia [l] arches, made up pharyngo -, epi - and cerato-branchials, and the ventral elements fuse in the middle line to form a common plate of cartilage.

    Text Book of Biology, Part 1: Vertebrata 1906

  • This framework consists of a number of arches (placed in series one behind another) extending on each side of the throat upwards towards the back-bone, and supporting on their outer sides the gills or branchia, on which account they are called the branchial arches.

    The Common Frog 1874

  • EACH of the lateral tufts of bristles a branchia, simple on a few of the foremost segments, and then strongly arborescent to the end of the body.

    Facts and Arguments for Darwin Fritz Muller 1859

  • Unlike land vertebrates or marine mammals, they don't have lungs, but they do have paired respiratory structures called gills, also called branchia.

    unknown title 2009

  • Fish Gill Filaments - Unlike land vertebrates or marine mammals, fish don't have lungs, but they do have paired respiratory structures called gills, or branchia.

    unknown title 2009

  • Unlike land vertebrates or marine mammals, they don't have lungs, but they do have paired respiratory structures called gills, also called branchia.

    unknown title 2009

  • Fish Gill Filaments - Unlike land vertebrates or marine mammals, fish don't have lungs, but they do have paired respiratory structures called gills, or branchia.

    unknown title 2009

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