pulvinate

[ puhl-vuh-neyt ]

adjective

1. having the shape of a cushion; resembling a cushion; cushion-shaped.
2. having a pulvinus.
3. Also . Architecture. (of a frieze or the like) having a convex surface from top to bottom.

pulvinate

/ ˈpʌlvɪˌneɪt /

adjective

1. architect (of a frieze) curved convexly; having a swelling
2. botany
   1. shaped like a cushion
   2. (of a leafstalk) having a pulvinus

Other Words From

• pul·vi·nate·ly adverb
• un·pul·vi·nate adjective
• un·pul·vi·nat·ed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of pulvinate¹

1815–25; < Latin pulvīnātus cushioned, equivalent to pulvīn ( us ) cushion + -ātus -ate ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of pulvinate¹

C19: from Latin pulvīnātus cushion-shaped

Example Sentences

Pulvinate, cushioned, or shaped like a cushion.

From Project Gutenberg

P. pulvinate, rather wavy, glabrous, whitish, disc tinged flesh-colour; g. decur. crowded, white; s. very short, solid, hard.

From Project Gutenberg

P. pulvinate, cuticle thick, brown with greenish tinge, virgate with minute adpr. fibrils; g. thick, grey, with flat, transverse, more or less branched veins; s. solid, narrowed below, fibrillosely striate, with minute dark granules above, pale; 10-12 � 6. hordum, F. P. exp. subumb. grey, dry, glabrous then breaking up into squarrose scales; g. rather distant, becoming greyish; s. 6-8 cm. whitish, glabrous; sp. virgatum, Fr.

From Project Gutenberg

In the more complex phase the sporangia are heaped together in a pulvinate mass in which the peridia appear as boundaries of minute cells.

From Project Gutenberg

Cortex less calcareous porose, yellowish brown, fructification definite, pulvinate F. rufa 3.

From Project Gutenberg