WOTD: tardigrade
Phonetic Spelling: TAHR-di-greyd
Part(s) of Speech: adjective; noun
Meaning(s):
- (adj.) Slow in pace or movement.
- (adj.)Belonging or pertaining to the phylum Tardigrada.
- (n.)Also called bear animalcule, water bear. Any microscopic, chiefly herbivorous invertebrate of the phylum Tardigrada, living in water, on mosses, lichens, etc.
Example:
The days were long and boring as we walked a continuous almost tardigrade pace around several large buildings, again with empty carbines.
— Stafford O. Chenevert, Amber Waves of Grain
…the soldiers were struggling and fighting their way after them, in such tardigrade fashion as their hoof-shaped shoes would allow—impeded, but not very resolutely attacked, by the people.
— George Eliot, Romola
He rolls tardigrade, to a stop on a shoulder, stooped in sand, in its pretense as it doesn’t exist and there’s only desert…
— Joshua Cohen, Witz
Origin:
Related to the common word tardy, tardigrade comes from the Latin word tardigradus meaning “slow-paced.”