Portuguese man-of-war
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Portuguese (adjective) + man-of-war,[1] from the resemblance of the organism’s float to a former Portuguese warship at full sail.
Pronunciation[edit]
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈpɔː.tʃʊˌɡiːz ˌmæn.ə(v)ˈwɔː/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈpoɹ.tʃəˌɡiz ˌmæn.ə(v)ˈwoɹ/, /ˈpoɹ-/, /ˈmæn-/
- Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)
- Hyphenation: Por‧tu‧guese man-of-war
Noun[edit]
Portuguese man-of-war (plural Portuguese men-of-war)
- Physalia physalis, a marine cnidarian consisting of a floating colony of hydrozoans attached to a float, superficially resembling a jellyfish.
- Synonyms: bluebottle, man-of-war
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see Portuguese, man-of-war.
Usage notes[edit]
- Added capitalization, loss of hyphens, and reduction of of to o or o’ are common.
Alternative forms[edit]
Translations[edit]
Physalia physalis
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ “Portuguese man-of-war, n.”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2022; “Portuguese man-of-war, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
Further reading[edit]
- Portuguese man o' war on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- Physalia physalis on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
- Physalia physalis on Wikispecies.Wikispecies