Zooid

3 definitions found

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

  Zooid \Zo"oid\, a. [Zoo- + -oid.] (Biol.)
     Pertaining to, or resembling, an animal.
     [1913 Webster]

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



  Zooid \Zo"oid\, n.
     1. (Biol.) An organic body or cell having locomotion, as a
        spermatic cell or spermatozooid.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Zool.)
        (a) An animal in one of its inferior stages of
            development, as one of the intermediate forms in
            alternate generation.
        (b) One of the individual animals in a composite group, as
            of Anthozoa, Hydroidea, and Bryozoa; -- sometimes
            restricted to those individuals in which the mouth and
            digestive organs are not developed.
            [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  zooid
       n : one of the distinct individuals forming a colonial animal
           such as a bryozoan or hydrozoan