tunicate

English

Etymology 1

From translingual Tunicata, see -ate (noun-forming suffix). Further from Latin tunicātus, perfect passive participle of tunicō (“to clothe with a tunic”).

Noun

tunicate (plural tunicates)

1. Any of very many chordate marine animals, of the subphyla Tunicata or Urochordata, including the sea squirts.

Derived terms

• golden star tunicate
• predatory tunicate

Translations

any of the chordate marine animals of the subphylum Tunicata

• Czech: pláštěnec m
• Dutch: manteldier (nl) n
• Finnish: vaippaeläin (fi)
• Hebrew: אִצְטְלָן m (itzt'lán)
• Polish: osłonica f
• Portuguese: tunicado m

Etymology 2

Rebracketing of tunicate on the basis of -ate (adjective-forming suffix).

Adjective

tunicate (not comparable)

1. Of or pertaining to Tunicata or Urochordata.

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Latin tunicātus, see Etymology 1 and -ate (adjective-forming suffix).

Adjective

tunicate (not comparable)

1. (anatomy, botany) Enclosed in a tunic or mantle; covered or coated with layers.
   • 1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 404:

     This tunicate withered hag the Señora had my financial number.

2. (zoology) Having each joint buried in the preceding funnel-shaped one, as in certain antennae of insects.

Derived terms

• bitunicate
• fissitunicate
• prototunicate
• unitunicate

Related terms

• endotunica
• exotunica

Latin

Adjective

tunicāte

1. vocative masculine singular of tunicātus

Verb

tunicāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of tunicō