octopus

Meanings

Noun

• Any of several marine molluscs of the family Octopodidae, having no internal or external protective shell or bone (unlike the nautilus, squid and cuttlefish) and eight arms each covered with suckers.
• The flesh of these marine molluscs eaten as food.
• An organization that has many powerful branches controlled from the centre.

Verb

• To put (or attempt to put) one's fingers, hands or arms in many things or places at roughly the same time.
• To spread out in long arms or legs in many directions.
• To plug a large number of devices into a single electric outlet.
• To grow in use vastly beyond what was originally intended.
• To hunt and catch octopuses.
• To behave like an octopus.

Related

Similar words

• polypus

Origin

• From Latin octōpūs, from Ancient Greek ὀκτώπους, from ὀκτώ + πούς.