Pŏl'yp, n.

n. [Written also polype.] [Fr. polype, It. & Sp. polipo, Lat. polypus, Gr. πολύπους, πολύποδος, i. e., many-footed, from πολύς, many, and πούς, ποδός, foot.] An aquatic animal of the radiate type, having, in general, a cylindrical body, at one extremity of which there is a mouth, surrounded by one or more series of arms or tentacles. It has no special organs of sense, and is capable of multiplying by buds and artificial sections as well as by ova. Dana. The name is sometimes used in a restricted sense for the hydra-polyp, but it properly includes the animals of all zoöphytes. These animals form coral by the secretion of calcareous matter.