vaginate

[ vaj-uh-nit, -neyt ]

adjective

, Botany.

1. having a vagina or sheath; sheathed.

vaginate

/ ˈvædʒɪnɪt; -ˌneɪt /

adjective

1. (esp of plant parts) having a sheath; sheathed

   a vaginate leaf

Word History and Origins

Origin of vaginate¹

From the New Latin word vāgīnātus, dating back to 1840–50. See vagina, -ate ¹

Example Sentences

P. 5-12 cm. convex-exp. obtuse, bay or tinged violet at first then brick-red, hoary with fibrillose squamules then almost glabrous; g. thick, distant, very broad, purplish umber then cinnamon; s. 7-12 cm. bulbous then elongated and equal, vaginate with the white persistent veil, apex violet cortinate; sp.

From Project Gutenberg

P. exp. obtuse, honey colour, even, viscid; g. crowded, broad; s. abruptly vaginate by the veil.

From Project Gutenberg

Vaginate: inclosed in a bivalved sheath.

From Project Gutenberg

Although the sheaths cannot exist without a positive cuticle, their existence does not depend so much on its presence as on the direction of the adhesive powers of its component parts: witness certain forms of Marchantiaceæ, and the vaginate forms, as Azolla, Lemna, etc. 

From Project Gutenberg

The difficult nature of ochreæ of Polygoneæ is certainly to be acknowledged, but they are similar to those of Costus, and hence not stipulæ, but an extension of the margin of the vaginate petiole, from which veins are prolonged into it; the functions of these are not stomatose, since they are membranous, the veins being the only green parts.

From Project Gutenberg