Portuguese man-of-war
UK /ˈpɔː.tʃʊˌɡiːz ˌmæn.ə(v)ˈwɔː/ · US /ˈpoɹ.tʃəˌɡiz ˌmæn.ə(v)ˈwoɹ/ noun
Forms Portuguese men-of-war Portuguese man-o-war Portuguese man-o'-war
- noun Physalia physalis, a marine cnidarian consisting of a floating colony of hydrozoans attached to a float, superficially resembling a jellyfish.
- noun Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see Portuguese, man-of-war.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Portuguese (adjective) + man-of-war, from the resemblance of the organism’s float to a former Portuguese warship at full sail.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “Portuguese man-of-war”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details