octopus

noun octopuses · octopusses · octopi · octopii · octopodes · octopus

1. broadly, countable Any of several marine molluscs of the order Octopoda, having no internal or external protective shell or bone (unlike the nautilus, squid and cuttlefish) and eight arms each covered with suckers. Even octopuses without stylets almost certainly retain the molecular machinery necessary to build them.
2. countable A mollusc from genus Octopus.
3. uncountable The flesh of these marine molluscs eaten as food.
4. countable An organization that has many powerful branches controlled from the centre.
5. countable, informal, uncountable An instance of a player scoring a touchdown immediately followed by a successful two-point conversion, resulting in a total score of eight points.
6. countable A safety device allowing divers to share an air supply in an emergency.

Similar: polypus

verb octopusses · octopuses · octopussing · octopusing · octopussed

1. To put (or attempt to put) one's fingers, hands or arms in many things or places at roughly the same time. He rises up on his wasted legs, the healer's hands octopussed on his head.
2. To spread out in long arms or legs in many directions. The bug-eyed press octopussed to their respective word processors.
3. To plug a large number of devices into a single electric outlet. If they're all for a single indoor tree, caution against "octopusing" of cords from other cords, and the use of a number of cords in a single receptacle.
4. broadly To grow in use vastly beyond what was originally intended. The interlocking business organizations have octopussed beyond all imagining in recent years; they are intermingled with citizens' union-smashing committees and women's strikebreaking “patriotic” groups, such as Neutral Thousands and Women of the Pacific.
5. To hunt and catch octopuses. The sport could be called octopusing or octopus hunting— and any number may play. Supposing you catch an octopus, what do you have?
6. To behave like an octopus. Night fell especially dark and cold for August, inky blackness tendrilling in, octopussing even the street lamps, now dim with vague form.