Sessile

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Sessile \Ses"sile\, a. [L. sessilis low, dwarf, from sedere,
     sessum, to sit: cf. F. sessile.]
     1. Attached without any sensible projecting support.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Bot.) Resting directly upon the main stem or branch,


        without a petiole or footstalk; as, a sessile leaf or
        blossom.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. (Zool.) Permanently attached; -- said of the gonophores of
        certain hydroids which never became detached.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  sessile
       adj 1: permanently attached to a substrate; not free to move about;
              "an attached oyster"; "sessile marine animals and
              plants" [syn: {attached}] [ant: {vagile}]
       2: attached directly by the base; not having an intervening
          stalk; "sessile flowers"; "the shell of a sessile barnacle
          is attached directly to a substrate" [syn: {stalkless}]
          [ant: {pedunculate}]