retuse

[ ri-toos, -tyoos ]

adjective

1. having an obtuse or rounded apex with a shallow notch, as leaves.

retuse

/ rɪˈtjuːs /

adjective

1. botany having a rounded apex and a central depression

   retuse leaves

Word History and Origins

Origin of retuse¹

1745–55; < Latin retūsus (past participle of retundere to make blunt), equivalent to re- re- + tud-, variant stem of tundere to beat, strike + -tus past participle suffix, with dt > s

Word History and Origins

Origin of retuse¹

C18: from Latin retundere to make blunt, from re- + tundere to pound

Example Sentences

Shell transversely oblong, thick, depressed, within purple; hinge plate thick, truncate, with an obsolete lamellar tooth in each valve; umbones retuse.

From Project Gutenberg

Shell oval, broad, thick; hinge margin subarcuated, the extremities winged and angulated; umbones prominent, the tips retuse.

From Project Gutenberg

Leaves often retuse; calyx-lobes obtuse in the bud; petals small or minute; style shorter, 3–4-cleft; seeds larger, sharply tuberculate; otherwise like the last.—Ark. to Tex. and westward; reported from Kan., Iowa, and Minn. 2.

From Project Gutenberg

S. herbácea, L. Leaves roundish oval, heart-shaped, obtuse or retuse, less than 1´ long, serrate, smooth and shining, reticulately veined; aments terminating 2-leaved branchlets, small, ovoid, 4–10 flowered; scales concave, obovate, obtuse, glabrous or slightly pubescent; capsule subsessile.—Alpine summits of the White Mountains, and far northward.

From Project Gutenberg

Stiff, 1–1½° high; culm and leaves thinly pubescent; spikes all sessile, very short; perigynium obovate, very strongly many-nerved, retuse, the beak short and straight, equalling or exceeding the mostly cuspidate scale.—Supposed to have been collected, a half-century ago, in N. Y. by Torrey, and in Penn. by Schweinitz.

From Project Gutenberg