/kyooh"pyoohl/ , n.
1. Bot.
a. a cup-shaped whorl of hardened, cohering bracts, as in the acorn. See illus. under acorn .
b. a cup-shaped outgrowth of the thallus of certain liverworts.
c. the apothecium of a cup fungus.
2. Zool. a small cup-shaped sucker or similar organ or part.
[ 1820-30; cupula, LL: small tub; see CUPOLA ]