AMOEBA

[amoe.ba] n, pl -bas or -bae [NL, genus name, fr. Gk amoibe change, fr. ameibein to change--more at migrate] (1855): any of a large genus (Amoeba) of naked rhizopod protozoans with lobed and never anastomosing pseudopodia, without permanent organelles or supporting structures, and of wide distribution in fresh and salt water and moist terrestrial environments; broadly: a naked rhizopod or other amoeboid protozoan -- amoe.bic adj