Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A Linnean (1758) genus of worms, subsequently used with various restrictions, now type of the family Serpulidæ.
  • noun [lowercase] A worm of this or some related genus; also, a tube or bunch of tubes of such worms; a serpulian or serpulite.

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

  • noun (Zoöl.) Any one of numerous species of tubicolous annelids of the genus Serpula and allied genera of the family Serpulidæ. They secrete a calcareous tube, which is usually irregularly contorted, but is sometimes spirally coiled. The worm has a wreath of plumelike and often bright-colored gills around its head, and usually an operculum to close the aperture of its tube when it retracts.

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

  • noun zoology Any of numerous species of tubicolous annelids of the genus Serpula and allied genera of the family Serpulidae that secrete a calcareous tube, usually irregularly contorted, but sometimes spirally coiled, with a wreath of plumelike and often bright-colored gills around its head, and usually an operculum to close the aperture of its tube when it retracts.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin, a little snake. See serpent.

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Examples

  • Another worm builds of sand or mud, with a rough casting of fine gravel and shell-grit, a habitation similar in design to that of the serpula, though on a less complete and authoritative model; indeed, it would almost seem that the latter had designed its tenement after the fashion of that of its poor relation — that the one made a study in mud which the other reproduced in carbonate of lime.

    My Tropic Isle 2003

  • Another worm builds of sand or mud, with a rough casting of fine gravel and shell-grit, a habitation similar in design to that of the serpula, though on a less complete and authoritative model; indeed, it would almost seem that the latter had designed its tenement after the fashion of that of its poor relation -- that the one made a study in mud which the other reproduced in carbonate of lime.

    My Tropic Isle 1887

  • He would perhaps have produced his lovely serpula blossoms, but he was forced to pass on to his aunt and Mrs. Mansell, who had found something safer for their admiration, in the shape of a great Cornu ammonis in the garden.

    Dynevor Terrace: or, the clue of life — Volume 1 Charlotte Mary Yonge 1862

  • Boring shells, such as the pholodadidæ, may be detected far out of sight of the ocean, still occupying the cells which they had scooped out for themselves in hard limestone or yielding shale; and serpula and nuliporate encrustations may be seen still adhering to rocks raised to giddy elevations over the sea.

    The Testimony of the Rocks or, Geology in Its Bearings on the Two Theologies, Natural and Revealed Hugh Miller 1829

  • The tubipora of the corals connects with the serpula of the conchylia.

    Hints towards the formation of a more comprehensive theory of life. Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1803

  • The tubipora forms the transition to the serpula; for the characteristic of all zoophytes, namely, the star shape of their openings, here disappears, and the tubiporæ are distinguished from the rest of the corals by this very circumstance, that the hollow calcareous pipes are placed side by side, without interbranching.

    Hints towards the formation of a more comprehensive theory of life. Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1803

  • Image: HemitrichiaSerpula. jpg | '' Hemitrichia serpula ''

    CreationWiki - Recent changes [en] 2009

  • Image: HemitrichiaSerpula. jpg | '' Hemitrichia serpula ''

    CreationWiki - Recent changes [en] 2009

  • Image: HemitrichiaSerpula. jpg | '' Hemitrichia serpula ''

    CreationWiki - Recent changes [en] 2009

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