Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A long flexible snout or trunk, as of an elephant.
- n. The slender, tubular feeding and sucking organ of certain invertebrates, such as insects, worms, and mollusks.
- n. A human nose, especially a prominent one.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. An elephant's trunk; hence, a long flexible snout, as the tapir's, or the nose of the proboscis-monkey. See cut under Nasalis.
- n. Any proboscidiform part or organ: anything that sticks out in front of an animal like an elephant's trunk. See cut under Cystophorinæ. The human nose, especially when very large.
[Humorous.]
Wiktionary
- n. anatomy An elongated tube from the head or connected to the mouth, of an animal.
- n. Informally, a large human nose.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Zoöl.) A hollow organ or tube attached to the head, or connected with the mouth, of various animals, and generally used in taking food or drink; a snout; a trunk.
- n. (Zoöl.) By extension, applied to various tubelike mouth organs of the lower animals that can be everted or protruded.
- n. Jocose The nose.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a long flexible snout as of an elephant
- n. the human nose (especially when it is large)
Etymologies
- From Latin proboscis, from Greek προβοσκίς "elephant's trunk," literally "means for taking food," from προ "forward" + βόσκειν "to nourish, feed," from βόσκεσςθαι "graze, be fed," from the root *bot (cf. βοτάνη "grass, fodder); more at botany. (Wiktionary)
- Latin, from Greek proboskis : pro-, in front; see pro-2 + boskein, to feed. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“With a single or twin proboscis-like suction pipes, it pumps up materials from the sea floor and then discharges them into a storage compartment known as the hopper.”
“The contractile vacuole is terminal, the proboscis is short, slightly raised and separated from the body by a deep cleft; the buccal cilia are inserted part way up on the proboscis.”
Marine Protozoa from Woods Hole Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission 21:415-468, 1901
“Not all parasites pass through a transformation inside the vector and remain in the salivary glands: filarial parasites are attached to the so-called proboscis (the mouth-part penetrating the skin) and are therefore transmitted mechanically.”
“For the mandibles were sharp, pointed ivory fangs; the proboscis was a kind of tongue in the vaguely mammalian mouths of these moths.”
“The right side is flattened and alone provided with cilia, while the left side of the body proper is arched; on the left side of the proboscis is a row of coarse cilia resembling an adoral zone, and a row of trichocysts.”
Marine Protozoa from Woods Hole Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission 21:415-468, 1901
“We all know where the bees go to fetch their honey, and how, when a bee settles on a flower, she thrusts into it her small tongue-like proboscis, which is really”
“Faix if it wasn't that her proboscis is a taste longer,”
“The adult also have antennae, and proboscis, which is used for the sucking of nectar.”
“The proboscis is the part of the head that the bug uses to feed on its prey.”
“Hawkmoths, which look a lot like hummingbirds or bumblebees, are common daytime fliers and will be found on tubular flowers (perfect for their incredibly long proboscis, which is the straw-like tube they feed with).”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘proboscis’.
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party animals
animal parts
anal fork, electric organ, faecal parasol, sublingua, toothcomb, dewclaw, pope's nose, nerve net, oral sucker, oral arm, squid giant synapse, squid giant axon and 99 more...
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Words starting with PRO
I've noticed many, many words start with PRO and this is just a collection of them.
professional, pronunciation, Prolagus, probable, prog, proximity, profit, procrastincate, prom, pronoun, promise, proactive and 206 more...
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Hence
Words with definitions that have a "hence" in them.
hanger, Deet, tripe, spindlelegs, fiddle, store, pluck, snap, villain, link, comedy, particular and 410 more...
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schnoz
Nose-related words
quidnunc, conk, philtrum, snub, aquiline, Roman, Greek, Nubian, button, honker, sniffer, pointer and 7 more...
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Words with unusual spellings or pronu...
Herein are listed words with oddball spellings and words whose pronunciation does not reflect the spelling.
eleemosynary, Wednesday, colonel, posslq, zaqqum, qwerty, cinquefoil, qibla(h), minuscule, Cholmondeley, polyphloisboian, ptisan and 67 more...
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The Nose Knows
Being Nosy.
nosethril, nostril, nebby, nasal, rhinoplasty, pug, button, Roman, turned-up, Pinocchio, Cyrano de Bergerac, Gonzo and 54 more...
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What's That Pokémon Name?
Words used to create the names of Pokémon, which are usually portmanteaux.
bulb, dinosaur, ivy, venus, char, salamander, squirt, turtle, blast, tortoise, water, caterpillar and 525 more...
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Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and ...
Words that, as I see it, have some fond connection to the Alice stories through their creation or particular use by Lewis Carroll. I mean to tie them all together with contexty comments!
alice, daisy-chain, white rabbit, waistcoat-pocket, rabbit-hole, marmalade, antipathy, antipode, curtsey, dinah, tea-time, rat-hole and 232 more...
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MiaLuthien's list ♥
gambit, prehensile, coquetry, impunity, genuflect, ensconce, clavicle, delude, beget, castigate, life caching, convoluted and 478 more...
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reginaterra's Words
purl, blow, squish, andean, generality, adaptation, lush, pack, filter, acquiesce, abstraction, sweet and 508 more...
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Clarissa, Or, The History of a Young ...
These words are from Samuel Richardson's novel Clarissa, Or, The History of a Young Lady, 1747-48
adumbrate, virago, varlet, rencounter, akimbo, palliate, amanuensis, amok, equipage, cully, se'ennight, resentments and 560 more...
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eggplantia5's Words
scintillate, marvel, cranberry, oscillate, triumph, bamboozle, grimace, magical, book, hexagon, cipher, compendium and 2727 more...
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slumry's Words
cattywampus, ingratiate, lackadaisical, exactitude, exfoliate, fulminate, circumnavigation, circuitous, debride, sidle, sequester, chicory and 1002 more...
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vmarinelli's Words
canard, gumption, inexorable, insouciance, inviolable, mordant, euphonious, sawbuck, carpe diem, pay dirt, adipocere, profligate and 496 more...
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Nabokov vocabulary
verisimilitude, geminate, pedantic, intervestibular, equilibrist, nictitating, anastomosis, quiddity, torus, cacahuete, undulation, pensum and 135 more...
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Words that delight me
tepid, perfunctory, trope, benign, inordinate, bewildering, ersatz, boon, delectable, apt, scuttlebutt, sequester and 398 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for proboscis.
mialuthien proboscis – a long flexible snout or trunk, as of an elephant; the slender, tubular feeding and sucking organ of certain invertebrates, such as insects, worms, and mollusks; a human nose, especially a prominent one Jul 13, 2008