octopodean

English

Etymology

From octopod +‎ -ean.

Adjective

octopodean (comparative more octopodean, superlative most octopodean)

1. Resembling or pertaining to an octopus; octopuslike.
   • 1896, The Gipsy Journal and British Tourist. A Magazine for Pedestrians & Cyclists, Ramblers' Clubs, Holiday-makers, and Advocate for Protection of Birds & Animals from Cruelty. No. 1-24; Sept. 1893-July 1896, page 145:

     In the spaces which are thus left in a semi-countrified condition between these octopodean arms, there is much to be seen in a half-hour's ramble which may remind one of the country which is farther away from town.

   • 1997, Sarah C. Humphreys, S. C. Humphreys, Cultures of Scholarship, University of Michigan Press, →ISBN, page 83:

     […] But this is to overlook the semiotician's octopodean ambitions. Implicit in Saussure's dream of a unified field of communication lay the totalizing possibility (substantially realized by Barthes and others) of claiming the whole world ...

   • 1999, Patrick Wolfe, Settler Colonialism, A&C Black, →ISBN, page 89:

     Even granting its octopodean ramifications, the entailments of Morgan's theory were so extensive that it could enable astonishing connections.

   • 2000, Chester Dolan, Religion on Trial: With 800 Material Witnesses, page 459:

     " […] arising partly from fear of their adversaries, who have the laws in their favor, and partly from the skepticism of mankind, who do not truly believe in anything new until they have actually experienced it." Unraveling the octopodean tentacles of religion so that reason might prevail in the collective mentation of our societies is just […]

   • 2016, Peter Godfrey-Smith, Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness, Macmillan, →ISBN, page 52:

     What I find most intriguing is the octopus's ability to adapt to new and unusual circumstances—confinement in a lab—and turn the apparatus around them to their own octopodean purposes. A lot of early octopus work was done in Italy, […]

Synonyms

• see list in octopuslike