ōˈbēlyə, -lēə noun
Etymology: New Latin, probably from Greek obelias, a cake, from obelos spit (rod used in baking)
1. capitalized : a genus of small delicate colonial hydroids having a medusa that lacks a velum and being widely distributed in temperate seas and a common colonial hydrozoan about wharves and pilings
2. -s : a member of the genus Obelia ; broadly : any colonial hydroid of similar form