Definitions

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

  • adjective Having the shape of a chela; pincerlike.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Having the form of a chela, cheliped, or chelicera; like the great claw of a lobster or crab; pincer-like.

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

  • adjective (Zoöl.) Having a movable joint or finger closing against a preceding joint or a projecting part of it, so that the whole may be used for grasping, as the claw of a crab; pincherlike.

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

  • adjective Having the form of a chela

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Ancient Greek χηλή (khēlē, "jawbone") + -form

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Examples

  • _Galathea strigosa_ is peculiar for the spinous character of the carapace and cheliform legs.

    Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society - Vol. 3 Zoology Various

  • When hand-like or cheliform structures occur in the Crustacea, these are usually more strongly developed in the males than in the females, often becoming enlarged in the former to quite a disproportionate size, as we have already seen to be the case in Melita.

    Facts and Arguments for Darwin Fritz Muller 1859

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