Definitions

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

  • noun Any of various slow-moving, microscopic invertebrates of the phylum Tardigrada that have four body segments, eight legs, and a chitinous cuticle, inhabit aquatic or moist terrestrial environments, and can withstand extreme temperatures.
  • adjective Of or belonging to the Tardigrada.
  • adjective Slow in action; slow-moving.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Slowgoing; slow in movement; specifically, noting the Tardigrada in either sense. Compare gravigrade.
  • noun One of the Tardigrada.

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

  • noun (Zoöl.) One of the Tardigrada.
  • adjective rare Moving or stepping slowly; slow-paced.
  • adjective (Zoöl.) Of or pertaining to the Tardigrada.

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

  • adjective Sluggish; moving slowly.
  • noun zoology A member of the animal phylum Tardigrada.

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

  • noun an arthropod of the division Tardigrada

Etymologies

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

[New Latin Tardigrada, phylum name, from neuter pl. of Latin tardigradus, slow-moving : tardus, slow + -gradus, walking, moving (from gradī, to go; see transgress). Adj., sense 2, from Latin tardigradus.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin tardigradus ("slowly stepping"), from tardus ("slow") + gradior ("step, walk")

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Examples

  • “Eva Nine, I have heard stories of beasts telepathically imprinting onto others—like wild dargs becoming tame for frint farmers—but what you call a ‘tardigrade’ is no pet.”

    The Search For WondLa Tony DiTerlizzi 2010

  • I asked, indicating the tardigrade, “What has this to do with me?”

    Masked Lou Anders 2010

  • I asked, indicating the tardigrade, “What has this to do with me?”

    Masked Lou Anders 2010

  • But, as you suggested regarding the tardigrade, I need to speak with them.

    The Search For WondLa Tony DiTerlizzi 2010

  • “The Omnipod said he was a species of tardigrade, or water bear.”

    The Search For WondLa Tony DiTerlizzi 2010

  • That's a tardigrade or waterbear, one of the world's hardiest living species!

    New Discoveries in the Animal Kingdom 2009

  • I forgot to ask him what the tardigrade tasted like.

    So many phyla so little time to eat them all AYDIN 2008

  • Not much tardigrade love there, so instead, let me offer links to www.tardigrades.com, tardigrades.bio.unc.edu, and the actual tardigradesinspace.blogspot.com site which hasn't been updated since November.

    ianrandalstrock's Journal ianrandalstrock 2008

  • Swedish researchers loaded two species of tardigrade already in their desiccated form onto the European Space Agency's Biopan-6 experimental platform, where for 10 days they were exposed to the radiation, vacuum and low temperature of space.

    Prospects and Perils 2008

  • There are several freshwater micrometazoans -- tardigrades leap to mind -- that live in ostensibly terrestrial habitats at human scales (such as a clump of moss), but that are only metabolically active when these areas are "damp" (which, to a tardigrade, means "totally submerged").

    What is a terrestrial animal? AYDIN 2008

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