Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of numerous freshwater and marine mollusks of the class Bivalvia, having a shell consisting of two hinged valves connected by a ligament, and including the clams, mussels, oysters, and scallops.
- adjective Having a shell consisting of two hinged valves.
- adjective Consisting of two similar separable parts.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Having two leaves or folding parts: as, a bivalve speculum.
- In zoology, having two shells united by a hinge.
- In botany, having two valves, as a seed-case.
- noun plural Folding doors.
- noun In zoology, a headless lamellibranch mollusk whose shell has two hinged valves, which are opened and shut by appropriate muscles: opposed to univalve.
- noun In botany, a pericarp in which the seed-case opens or splits into two parts.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Zoöl.) A mollusk having a shell consisting of two lateral plates or valves joined together by an elastic ligament at the hinge, which is usually strengthened by prominences called
teeth . The shell is closed by the contraction of two transverse muscles attached to the inner surface, as in the clam, -- or by one, as in the oyster. See Mollusca. - noun (Bot.) A pericarp in which the seed case opens or splits into two parts or valves.
- adjective (Zoöl. & Bot.) Having two shells or valves which open and shut, as the oyster and certain seed vessels.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Any
mollusc belonging to the taxonomic classBivalvia , characterized by a shell consisting of two hinged sections, such as ascallop ,clam ,mussel oroyster .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun marine or freshwater mollusks having a soft body with platelike gills enclosed within two shells hinged together
- adjective used of mollusks having two shells (as clams etc.)
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Vibrio species, including human pathogens, are particularly abundant in bivalve tissues, where they can persist even after cleaning procedures, thus representing a potential risk for human health.
- Boing Boing 2005
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The oyster is described as a bivalve shell-fish, having the valves generally unequal.
The Book of Household Management Isabella Mary 1861
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The oyster is described as a bivalve shell-fish, having the valves generally unequal.
The Book of Household Management Isabella Mary 1861
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The baby bivalve, which is part of the Limidae family, was swimming like a scallop by clapping its shells together when the photo was taken.
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The baby bivalve, which is part of the Limidae family, was swimming like a scallop by clapping its shells together when the photo was taken.
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The baby bivalve, which is part of the Limidae family, was swimming like a scallop by clapping its shells together when the photo was taken.
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A sailor in search of _marteaux_, a very rare kind of bivalve mussel, was stung by a serpent.
Celebrated Travels and Travellers Part 2. The Great Navigators of the Eighteenth Century Jules Verne 1866
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The street-doors of the ancients were generally "bivalve," or "folding-doors."] [Footnote 7: Every spot of sorrow) -- Ver.
The Captiva and the Mostellaria Titus Maccius Plautus 1847
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That simply affirms in my view that the people outraged over this have the intelligence of a bivalve.
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For example, these bivalve shells, probably arks (Arcidae), each had a hole thru its umbo.
Archive 2009-04-01 AYDIN 2009
mollusque commented on the word bivalve
A town in New Jersey.
February 27, 2008