/hem'i kawr"dayt/ , Zool.
adj.
1. belonging or pertaining to the chordates of the phylum Hemichordata, comprising small, widely distributed, marine animals, as the acorn worms.
n.
2. a hemichordate animal, having a vertebratelike hollow nerve cord and an echinodermlike larval stage.
[ 1880-85; Hemichordata; see HEMI-, CHORDATE ]