Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
rotifer [roh-tuh-fer] ExamplesWord Origin noun
- any microscopic animal of the phylum (or class) Rotifera, found in fresh and salt waters, having one or more rings of cilia on the anterior end.
Origin of rotifer From New Latin, dating back to 1785–95; see origin at Rotifera Also called wheel animalcule. Related formsro·tif·er·al [roh-tif-er-uh l] /roʊˈtɪf ər əl/, ro·tif·er·ous, adjective Examples from the Web for rotifer Historical Examples of rotifer
Yet among those animal mountains, where will you find the vivacity, the ardor of vitality, displayed by the rotifer?
Jules Michelet
One dries up a rotifer: good night to him; somebody soaks him a little, and he wakes up to bid you good day.
Edmond About
It is to the rotifer what this globe, with its twenty-seven thousand miles of circumference is to man.
Jules Michelet
The Asplanchna, the mouthless male of a Rotifer, (p. 292) alone remains for me.
A Monograph on the Sub-class Cirripedia (Volume 2 of 2)
Charles Darwin
In Rotifer macrurus the ovary with its germinal vesicles is distinctly seen occupying one side of the animal.
Philip Henry Gosse
British Dictionary definitions for rotifer rotifer noun
- any minute aquatic multicellular invertebrate of the phylum Rotifera, having a ciliated wheel-like organ used in feeding and locomotion: common constituents of freshwater planktonAlso called: wheel animalcule
Derived Formsrotiferal (rəʊˈtɪfərəl) or rotiferous, adjectiveWord Origin for rotifer C18: from New Latin Rotifera, from Latin rota wheel + ferre to bear rotifer in Science rotifer [rō′tə-fər]
- Any of various tiny, multicellular aquatic animals of the phylum Rotifera, having a wheel-like ring of cilia at their front ends. The cilia trap small organisms for food. Rotifers are grouped by some scientists together with nematodes and some other invertebrates as aschelminths.