holdfast
English
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/86/Holdfast.jpg/220px-Holdfast.jpg)
Etymology
Noun
holdfast (plural holdfasts)
- Something to or by which an object can be securely fastened.
- 1658, Sir Thomas Browne, The Garden of Cyrus (Folio Society 2007, p. 198)
- And Ivy divided from the root, we have observed to live some years, by the cirrous parts commonly conceived but as tentacles and holdfasts unto it.
- 1658, Sir Thomas Browne, The Garden of Cyrus (Folio Society 2007, p. 198)
- (biology) A root-like structure that anchors aquatic sessile organisms, such as seaweed, other sessile algae, stalked crinoids, benthic cnidarians, and sponges, to the substrate.
- Hyponym: hapteron
- (archaic, medicine) Actinomycosis.
Translations
Something to or by which an object can be securely fastened
See also
holdfast on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- Template:commonslite