Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A small opening or pore, as of a fruiting body.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A small opening or entrance; a little ostium.
- noun In zoology: One of the small inhalant pores or orifices of sponges.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The exterior opening of a stomate. See
stomate . - noun Any small orifice.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun mycology A small
hole oropening through which certainfungi release theirmature spores . - noun botany A similar hole or opening in
plants , such as the opening of theinvoluted fig inflorescence through whichfig wasps enter topollinate andbreed .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a small pore especially one in the reproductive bodies of certain algae and fungi through which spores pass
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Latin ōstiolum, diminutive of ōstium, opening; see ostium.]
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Examples
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Ostiolar canal: a marginal furrow leading from the ostiole.
Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology John. B. Smith
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At the bottom of the fig is a tiny hole called an ostiole that lets in special fig wasps.
Telegraph.co.uk: news, business, sport, the Daily Telegraph newspaper, Sunday Telegraph 2010
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