peripatus Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun any of numerous velvety-skinned wormlike carnivorous animals common in tropical forests having characteristics of both arthropods and annelid worms
    onychophoran; velvet worm.

WordNet

Pe*rip"a*tus noun
Etymology
NL., fr. Gr. a walking about.
Definitions
  1. (Zoöl.) A genus of lowly organized arthropods, found in South Africa, Australia, and tropical America. It constitutes the order Malacopoda.

Webster 1913