cupule noun. ['kju:pjʊl] Also cupula [-jʊlǝ]. LME.
[Late Latin cupula: see CUPOLA. Cf. French cupule.]
1. Botany. A cuplike structure associated with the reproductive parts of certain plants; spec. (a) the woody involucre partly enclosing an acorn; (b) the case at the base of a kernel or grain on a corn-cob. LME.

2. Zoology & Anatomy. A small cup-shaped organ, as the sucker of a cuttlefish etc.; esp. (as cupula) one of the gelatinous masses into which sensory hairs protrude in a semicircular canal of the ear. E19.

3. A small cup-shaped depression on a surface. L19.

■ cupular adjective shaped like a cupule L19.

■ cupulate adjective cupular; having a cupule: M19.

[TahlilGaran] English Dictionary ▲