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el·a·ter

(ĕlə-tər)

1. An elaterid beetle.

2. Botany A tiny elongated structure that forces the dispersal of spores by the absorption of moisture. It is either a band attached to the spore, as in horsetails, or a filament occurring among the spores, as in liverworts.

[New Latin Elatēr, type genus of the elaterid family (so named by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in reference to the beetles' sudden jump like the effect of a mechanical spring), from elatēr, elastic impulse, mechanical spring, from Greek elatēr, driver (of flocks or horses), striker (with a handheld weapon), pusher, from elaunein, to drive, strike, push. Sense 2, from New Latin elatēr, mechanical spring.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

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Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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