Definitions

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

  • intransitive verb Botany To open at definite places, discharging seeds, pollen, or other contents, as the ripe capsules or pods of some plants.
  • intransitive verb Medicine To rupture or break open, as a surgical wound.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To gape; specifically, in botany, to open, as the capsules of plants.

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

  • intransitive verb To gape; to open by dehiscence.

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

  • verb intransitive, botany To burst or split open at definite places, discharging seeds, or pollen, or other contents, as the ripe pods of some plants.
  • verb intransitive, medicine To rupture or break open, as a surgical wound.

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

  • verb burst or split open

Etymologies

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

[Latin dehīscere : dē-, de- + hīscere, to split, inchoative of hiāre, to be open.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin de- + hiscere to split, from hiare to be open, related to hiatus

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Examples

  • A major concern had been that the sutured tissue would break down, or dehisce.

    Mountain Gorillas: Discovery Channel: Following Umoja 2008

  • Insect larvae of many species typically destroy a large proportion of the mature seeds before they dehisce.

    Chapter 8 1996

  • The anther must dehisce (burst open) before pollen grains can be released.

    Chapter 25 1996

  • Koa pods are slow to dehisce and about 15 cm long and 25 to 4 cm wide.

    Chapter 8 1996

  • Bundles of unthreshed grains or pulses can be treated with smoke, but care must be taken that they do not dehisce while in storage.

    14. Saving seeds for planting 1991

  • At this time the pods are ready to dehisce, or pop open to distribute the seeds.

    14. Saving seeds for planting 1991

  • Pods of some crops such as peas, do not easily dehisce, but others, such as arugola, do so at the slightest touch, throwing seeds quite a distance (Figure 14.3).

    14. Saving seeds for planting 1991

  • Koa pods are slow to dehisce and about 15 cm long and 2.5 to 4 cm wide.

    Chapter 2 1990

  • Insect larvae of many species typically destroy a large proportion of the mature seeds before they dehisce.

    Chapter 2 1990

  • Ripe pods dehisce along a single margin, and the mature, black, hard-coated seeds

    Chapter 5 1983

Comments

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  • dehisce |diˈhis|, verb intrans. technical: (of a pod or seed vessel, or of a cut or wound) gape or burst open: after the anther lobes dehisce, the pollen is set free.

    September 21, 2008

  • dehisce |diˈhis|, verb intrans. technical: (of a pod or seed vessel, or of a cut or wound) gape or burst open: after the anther lobes dehisce, the pollen is set free. From a poem by Oni Buchanan.

    September 21, 2008

  • JM celebrates any and all acts of dehisce and utters ooooohhh and aaaaahhhh!

    January 5, 2010