Cucumiform

Pronunciation

• RP enPR: kyoÍžokyoÍžoʹmÄ­fôrm, IPA: /kjuːˈkjuːmɪfɔːm/

Alternative forms

• cucumeriform mycology, rare

Origin

First attested in a glossary in 1826, in a fragment in 1838, and in a grammatical sentence in 1892; formed by the suffixation of cucumi-, the short i-stem of the Latin cucumis ("cucumber"), with the English -form; compare the earlier New Latin cucumeriformis (1703), cucumiformis (1791) and French cucumeriforme (1777), cucumiforme (1804).

Full definition of cucumiform

Adjective

1. Shaped like a cucumber; having the form of a cylinder tapered and rounded at the ends, and possibly curved.
• 1826, William Kirby and William Spence, An Introduction to Entomology IV, page 265Cucumiform

• 1838, The Penny Cyclopædia XII: “Hadley, John–Intestina”, Holothuʹria, Holothuria Family, page 270The Cucumiform Holothuriæ, whose body is but little elongated, more or less fusiform, pentagonal, with tentaculiform suckers forming five ambulacra, one on each angle.
• 1892, Pamphlets on Biology: Kofoid Collection, page 106The animal is cucumiform, tapering slightly at both ends, and possesses a short and inconspicuous conical tail (PI. 11. fig. 6).
• 1925, Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia L, page 149The ova (in an early stage) are orange in colour, broadly cucumiform in shape, and about 2·4 mm. long by 1·65 mm. wide.
• 1935, Records of the Indian Museum XXXVII, page 450Regular, simple, globose, ovoid, ellipsoid, fusiform, cucumiform or moniliform, local or subextensive, terminal or basal, general tuberous swellings, about 30–45 mm. long and 10–15 mm. in diameter.
• 1947, Malcolm Lowry, Under the Volcano (Reynal & Hitchcock), page 207He opened his eyes . . . But the abominable impact on his whole being at this moment of the fact that that hideously elongated cucumiform bundle of blue nerves and gills below the steaming unselfconscious stomach had sought its pleasure in his wife’s body brought him trembling to his feet.
• 1955, William Gaddis, The Recognitions (Harcourt, Brace), page 329She was there, tumbling the marvelous cucumiform weights down upon a chest which looked as though it would cave in under such manna.
• 1965, Anthony Bloomfield, Throw (Scribner), page 59He found his right hand had slid to his groin, taking the cucumiform warmth and familiarity for comfort, like an infant sucking teat or thumb.
• 1975, North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station, Technical Bulletin, issues 232–238, page 47Grape colaspis overwinter as larvae within cucumiform cells in the soil.
• 1978, Stanford University Publications: Geological Sciences XIV–XVII, page 152Small proximate dinoflagellate cysts with oval to elliptical outline in dorsoventral view and cucumiform to oval to elliptical in lateral and oblique views; average width/length ratio (W.L.R.) varies from 0.65 to 0.81.
• 1993, Bijdragen tot de Dierkunde LXIII, page 46We coined the following expressions: “soie cucumiforme” (cucumiform seta) for a medium-sized blunt mesochaeta, “soie bacilliforme” (bacilliform seta) for a short blunt mesochaeta, “soie gladiforme” (gladiform seta) for a rather short and thick seta looking like a two-edged sword, and “soie en crosse” (crooked seta) for a blunt seta ending by a crook.
• 2000, African Entomology (Entomological Society of Southern Africa) IX, page 114The sensory appendix at the apex of antennal segment II in Eletica is unique; it is cucumiform in shape and extremely large (longer than the length of the antenna itself).
• 2003, Robin D. Gill, Rise, Ye Sea Slugs! 浮け, page 29The maria are obviously “sea-things” (mar+ia) and cucu, “cucumiform,” (or, wrongly, “cuculate,” “hooded”), but I imagine a cuckoo, a virgin and, with the species Cucumaria curata, a curate, as well.
• 2011, Terry Pratchett, Snuff: Discworld Novel 39, page 17Uncharacteristically for him, Lord Vetinari laughed out loud. He very nearly gloated at the downfall of his enemy and slammed his copy of the Ankh-Morpork Times, open at the crossword page, on to his desk. ‘Cucumiform, shaped like a cucumber or a variety of squash! l thumb my nose at you, madam!’

Related terms

• cucumber