Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A thousand-legs; a myriapod of the suborder Chilognatha or Diplopoda: so called from the very numerous feet, though these are not nearly a thousand in number. The feet are about twice as numerous as those of the similar creatures called centipeds, there being two pairs instead of one pair to most of the segments; the legs are also shorter, and (the body is harder and more cylindrical. Millepeds are found in water, and in wet or damp places beneath logs, stones, etc. Unlike some of the centipeds, all are quite harmless animals. Some of the commonest belong to the family Julidæ, as Julus sabulosus. The tufted millepeds are Polyxenidæ; the false millepeds, Polydesmidæ. Pill-millepeds belong to the family Glomeridæ; they are comparatively short and stout, and can roll themselves up into a ball, like the wood-lice of the genus Armadillo. See Chilognatha, and cuts under Myriapoda and thousand-legs.
  • noun Some small crustacean with many legs, as an isopodous slater; a wood-louse. Also millepede, millipede.

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

  • noun (Zoöl.) A myriapod with many legs, esp. a chilognath, as the galleyworm.

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

  • noun Obsolete form of millipede.

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