Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The nonfeeding stage between the larva and adult in the metamorphosis of holometabolous insects, during which the larva typically undergoes complete transformation within a protective cocoon or hardened case.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The third and usually quiescent stage of those insects which undergo complete metamorphosis, intervening between the larval and the imaginal stage. It is usually called the second stage, the egg not being counted. Some pupæ, as those of mosquitoes, are active. The pupa of some insects is called a puparium, and of others a nymph or chrysalis. See these words. See also cuts under beetle, Carpocapsa, chinch-bug, Erotylus, and house-fly.
- n. A stage in the development of some other arthropods, as cirripeds. See locomotive pupa, below.
- n. [capitalized] In conchology, the typical genus of Pupidæ; the chrysalis - shells.
- n. See the adjectives.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Zoöl.) Any insect in that stage of its metamorphosis which usually immediately precedes the adult, or imago, stage.
- n. (Zoöl.) A genus of air-breathing land snails having an elongated spiral shell.
WordNet 3.0
- n. an insect in the inactive stage of development (when it is not feeding) intermediate between larva and adult
Etymologies
- From New Latin, from a special use of Latin pupa. (Wiktionary)
- Latin pūpa, girl, doll. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“This time it forms a stiff, white cover and is called a pupa (PYOO-puh).”
“This time it forms a stiff, white cover and is called a pupa PYOO-puh.”
“The pupa of the gnat [10] also has 'respiratory trumpets' serving the same purpose, but these are a pair of processes on the prothorax, so that the pupa, which is fairly active, hangs from the surface-film with its abdomen pointing downwards through the water.”
“The name "pupa" or doll, was given to the creature in this stage, because long ago people thought the way in which insects are thus enclosed was somewhat like the way in which the babies used to be wrapped round in bandages or "swaddling clothes": it is also called a "chrysalis," because sometimes dotted with gold or pearly spots.”
“At last it really seems tired of eating, and after it has cast its skin four times, the fifth one becomes thick and hard, and the caterpillar hangs itself by a fine silken thread of its own spinning to a twig, and passes into its second stage -- that of the "pupa," or chrysalis, from which it will awaken, a thing of life and beauty, to live in the air instead of crawling.”
“Now these wings and other structures characteristic of the imago, appear in the pupa which is revealed by the shedding of the last larval cuticle.”
“After eating this delicate morsel it devours the honey in the cells of the bee and changes into a white, cylindrical, nearly footless grub, and after it is full-fed, and has assumed a supposed "pupa" state, the skin, without bursting, incloses a kind of hard "pupa" skin, which is very similar in outline to the former larva, within whose skin is found a whitish larva which directly changes into the true pupa.”
Our Common Insects A Popular Account of the Insects of Our Fields, Forests, Gardens and Houses
“Animal welfare officer Godric Marston climbed over a wire fence, about two metres high, to free the bitch which he kept calling "pupa" (doll).”
“| Reply not to rain on your pupa, JimO, but a Luna Moth emerges from a cocoon rather than a chrysalis; yet, what the heck ...”
“He felt that he was solidifying—a pupa becoming a wasp.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘pupa’.
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AGRI - apiculture
lucerne, HMF, Heather, harvest, glucose, honey, fluid, Erica, Gaucho, microscopic, enzym, tea tree and 183 more...
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Words in which "u" is pronounced "yu"
cute, uniform, puny, municipal, butte, fume, perfume, puke, cucumber, huge, demure, cube and 95 more...
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Cute
My boyfriend and I started this list my Junior or Senior year of High school. It hasn't been added to in a while. It was a list of words that we thought sounded universally cute or had universal as...
cupcake, doilee, mitten, kitten, squiggle, button, cheek, papoose, pupa, sleep, cookie, treat and 45 more...
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Unknown words
Words that I have never heard until now.
chirotony, oligophagous, demiurge, foam, hindrance, dulosis, pupa, jockeyship, parvenu, sycophant, xylopolist, opsigamy
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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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artoparts's Words
illation, finite, edify, abide, abrade, vouch, amiss, vociferate, perusing, techantiquery, rigamarole, holon and 615 more...
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Are we there yet?
These have some growing up to do.
colt, foal, kitten, cub, pup, heifer, larva, imago, veliger, trochophore, grub, maggot and 178 more...
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Words That Sound Dirty but Really Aren't
annals, assassinate, bisect, bubbly, caucus, caulk, colloquialism, concoct, condominium, congeal, congenital, convex and 131 more...
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Words that sound dirty, but aren't
Inspired by a Candid Camera sketch.
horehound, fugue, ramrod, jocular, thespian, titmouse, masticate, pussyfoot, angina, booby, formicate, hoar and 64 more...
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A hive for the honey bee
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee,
And live alone ...absconding swarm, afterswarm, alighting board, american foulbrood, apiary, apiculture, apis mellifera, bee blower, bee bread, bee brush, beehive, beeswax and 71 more...
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Words that make my stomach turn:
loaf, chunk, moist, heft, poodle, curb, scab, mucus, panties, giblets, luncheon, hunk and 54 more...
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peach collective
alien, mango, peach, puke, mouse, guts, fae, babe, piss, goat, moss, veins and 37 more...
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Rich Habitats: A Study of Invertebrates
Vocabulary for studying invertebrates at Bartram's Garden
adaptation, biodiversity, cladistics, classification, decomposer, detritus, exoskeleton, habitat, invertebrate, metamorphosis, organism, predator and 16 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for pupa.
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