sea cucumber

Any of various cucumber-shaped echinoderms of the class Holothuroidea, characteristically having tentacles surrounding the mouth and a flexible body with tube feet usually arranged in longitudinal rows. Also called holothurian.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

sea cucumber

(Animals) any echinoderm of the class Holothuroidea, having an elongated body covered with a leathery skin and bearing a cluster of tentacles at the oral end. They usually creep on the sea bed or burrow in sand

[C17: so named because of its cucumber-like shape]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

sea′ cu`cumber

any echinoderm of the class Holothuroidea, having a long, body and tentacles around the mouth.

[1595–1605]

sea cucumber

Any of various invertebrate sea animals related to starfish and sea urchins, having a rough cucumber-shaped body and a mouth surrounded by tentacles. To distract an attacking predator, a sea cucumber can expel some of its internal organs, which later grow back.

The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

sea cucumber - echinoderm having a flexible sausage-shaped body, tentacles surrounding the mouth and tube feet; free-living mud feeders

holothurian

echinoderm - marine invertebrates with tube feet and five-part radially symmetrical bodies

class Holothuroidea, Holothuroidea - class of echinoderms including the sea cucumbers

Holothuria edulis, trepang - of warm coasts from Australia to Asia; used as food especially by Chinese

Translations

balate