Definitions

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

  • noun Botany The stalk of an inflorescence or a stalk bearing a solitary flower in a one-flowered inflorescence.
  • noun Zoology A stalklike structure in invertebrate animals, usually serving as an attachment for a larger part or structure.
  • noun Anatomy A stalklike bundle of nerve fibers connecting different parts of the brain.
  • noun Medicine The stalklike base to which a polyp or tumor is attached.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In zoöl:
  • noun In botany, a general flower-stalk supporting either a cluster or a solitary flower: in the latter case the cluster may be regarded as reduced to a single blossom. Gray. See also cut under pedicel.
  • noun In zoöl., a little foot or foot-like part; a pedicle or pedicel.
  • noun See the adjective.

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

  • noun (Bot.) The stem or stalk that supports the flower or fruit of a plant, or a cluster of flowers or fruits.
  • noun (Zoöl.) A sort of stem by which certain shells and barnacles are attached to other objects. See Illust. of Barnacle.
  • noun (Anat.) A band of nervous or fibrous matter connecting different parts of the brain

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

  • noun botany The axis of an inflorescence; the stalk supporting an inflorescence.
  • noun botany A short stalk at the base of a leaf or reproductive structure.
  • noun anatomy A bundle of neurons connecting different parts of the brain.
  • noun anatomy In arthropods, the base segments of an antenna.
  • noun anatomy A stem attaching a mass of tissue (such as a polyp) to the body.
  • noun zoology A collection of nerves in the appendage of an animal (such as the tip of a dolphin's tail).

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

  • noun stalk bearing an inflorescence or solitary flower
  • noun the thin process of tissue that attaches a polyp to the body
  • noun a bundle of myelinated neurons joining different parts of the brain

Etymologies

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

[New Latin pedunculus, diminutive of Latin pēs, ped-, foot; see ped- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Late Latin pedunculus, from Latin pedis, genitive of pēs, a ‘foot’

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word peduncle.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Its shade, and the folly of peduncles, delicately camouflaged the basic details...

    - Nabokov, Ada, or Ardor

    June 4, 2008