Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Having a hard shell or shell-like outer covering.
- adjective Composed of a shell or shell-like material.
- adjective Having the reddish-brown or brownish-yellow hue of bricks.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Of or pertaining to shells, or testacean animals, as shell-fish; testacean.
- Consisting of a hard continuous shell or shelly substance; shelly: thus, an oyster-shell is testaceous.
- Having a hard shell, as oysters, clams, and snails: distinguished from
crustaceous , or soft-shelled, as a lobster or crab. - Derived or prepared from shells of mollusks or crustaceans: as, a testaceous medicine; a pearl is of testaceous origin.
- In botany and zoology, dull-red brick-color; brownish-yellow, or orange-yellow with much gray.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Of or pertaining to shells; consisted of a hard shell, or having a hard shell.
- adjective (Bot. & Zoöl.) Having a dull red brick color or a brownish yellow color.
- adjective (Zoöl.) animals having a firm, calcareous shell, as oysters and clams, thus distinguished from
crustaceous animals , whose shells are more thin and soft, and consist of several joints, or articulations, as lobsters and crabs.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective obsolete Pertaining to
earthenware or baked clay. - adjective Of a reddish-yellow or brownish colour, like brick.
- adjective Having a
shell , especially one which is notarticulated .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective relating to or possessing a testa or hard shell
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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From IV 2-10 he discusses the parts, both internal and external, of the ˜bloodless™ animals, i.e. the crustaceans, testaceous mollusks, cephalopods and insects.
Aristotle's Biology Lennox, James 2006
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The foregoing remarks appear to apply to the case of the Mollusca, which, at a very early period, had reached a high organization and a great development of forms and species in the testaceous Cephalopoda.
On the law which has regulated the introduction of new species 2004
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Of testaceous animals, on the contrary, no direct sensible evidence is as yet forthcoming to determine whether they sleep, but if the above reasoning be convincing to any one, he who follows it will admit this [viz. that they do so.]
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Of testaceous animals, on the contrary, no direct sensible evidence is as yet forthcoming to determine whether they sleep, but if the above reasoning be convincing to any one, he who follows it will admit this [viz. that they do so.]
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Now in the sea the earthy matter is present in large quantities, and consequently the testaceous animals are formed from a concretion of this kind, the earthy matter hardening round them and solidifying in the same manner as bones and horns (for these cannot be melted by fire), and the matter (or body) which contains the life being included within it.
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Crabs also slough off their old-age; this is generally allowed with regard to the soft-shelled crabs, and it is said to be the case with the testaceous kind, as for instance with the large ‘granny’ crab.
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While in other animals the glutinous is dry, for which reason the covering of the invertebrates is testaceous or crustaceous, in the vertebrates it is rather of the nature of fat.
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Entirely pale rufo-testaceous, excepting the eyes and abdomen which are jet black; the nodes of the petiole pale, smooth, and shining.
Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society - Vol. 3 Zoology Various
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Abdomen testaceous at the base beneath; first band interrupted, having before it two testaceous spots.
Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society - Vol. 3 Zoology Various
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Thorax: the tegulæ pale rufo-testaceous, wings hyaline, the nervures ferruginous; the metathorax coarsely rugose; the articulations of the legs and the tarsi ferruginous.
Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society - Vol. 3 Zoology Various
mollusque commented on the word testaceous
The Conchologist's First Book; Or, A System of Testaceous Malacology, by Edgar Allan Poe, 1839.
November 11, 2007
palooka commented on the word testaceous
"Having the reddish-brown or brownish-yellow hue of bricks." AHD
April 13, 2008
yarb commented on the word testaceous
I just can't get enough colour words.
April 14, 2008