How to Use proboscis in a Sentence
proboscis
noun-
Beware: That proboscis of theirs can leave a painful nip.
—Ellen Nibali, baltimoresun.com, 11 July 2017
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The hawk moth, with its ultra-long proboscis, will stop by for a nectar snack.
—Paris Wolfe, cleveland, 27 Jan. 2023
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The males’ large trunk-like nose, called a proboscis, helps them produce their signature sound and is the namesake for the species.
—Jesse Ryan, USA TODAY, 11 May 2017
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The bees soon cut several holes in the leaves of each plant using their mandibles and proboscises.
—Jim Daley, Scientific American, 21 May 2020
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To initiate feeding, the first pump opens to lower the pressure and draw the blood up into the proboscis.
—Popular Science, 20 Oct. 2020
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The partially prehensile proboscis helps the species probe the ground for leaves and fallen fruit.
—Bradley J. Fikes, sandiegouniontribune.com, 3 July 2018
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Mosquitoes use their proboscis, or part of their mouth, to cut the skin and get to the capillaries or veins to fill up with blood.
—USA TODAY, 7 June 2023
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The assassin bug's deadly proboscis is both sword and siphon.
—smithsonianmag.com, 2 May 2017
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The assassin bug's deadly proboscis is both sword and siphon.
—smithsonianmag.com, 30 Sep. 2017
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About 21 years later, the African hawkmoth was discovered with a foot-long, straw-like mouth called a proboscis.
—Theresa MacHemer, Smithsonian Magazine, 17 Apr. 2020
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This 1996 Daihatsu with its googly eyes and big spare-tire proboscis is a recent import to the U.S.
—Elana Scherr, Car and Driver, 17 Feb. 2022
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Ideally, the nectar will attract a moth, which will elongate its tongue-like proboscis and stick its head into the tube.
—Douglas Main, National Geographic, 11 July 2019
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Nienaber walked it over to a plant, and the monarch soon unfurled its proboscis into a flower, drawing nectar.
—Rohan Preston, Star Tribune, 22 Jan. 2021
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Its eyes are at the bottom; its antennae, proboscis and legs are folded up along its stomach.
—Lisa Raffensperger, Discover Magazine, 15 May 2013
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During the feeding process, the female mosquito uses a mouthpart called the proboscis—which is also used to feed on flowers—to pierce the skin and feed on the blood.
—Eleesha Lockett, SELF, 8 June 2022
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This implies that Macrauchenia may have had a mobile proboscis, as pictured here.
—Josh Rosenblatt, Fox News, 28 June 2017
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The spines of a cactus, the proboscis of a mosquito, the quills of a porcupine: straight, pointed objects serve a plethora of functions in nature.
—Scott Hershberger, Scientific American, 6 July 2020
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The mosquitoes didn’t have enough force to push their needle-like proboscis through the graphene oxide, which protected the volunteers.
—Jason Daley, Smithsonian, 20 Aug. 2019
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Having a big nose: structure, ontogeny, and function of the elephant seal proboscis.
—Darren Naish, Scientific American Blog Network, 3 June 2017
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On Adam’s computer screen, the ship now looked like a robotic housefly, its proboscis probing toward an enormous, crumbly piece of gray bread.
—Chris Wright, Wired, 8 June 2020
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While one tube in the proboscis draws blood, a second pumps in saliva containing a mild painkiller and an anti-coagulant.
—Karen Farkas, cleveland.com, 17 May 2017
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Just about every butterfly and moth that has hollow scales today has a proboscis, Mr. van Eldijk said.
—Nicholas St. Fleur, New York Times, 10 Jan. 2018
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When the researchers dabbed the bitter compound on the flies’ proboscis, neurons with their opsins intact sent off nearly 20 impulses per second.
—Mitch Leslie, Science | AAAS, 2 Apr. 2020
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Often, the single eyeball stared unnervingly out from the middle of the face, sometimes with a fleshy forehead proboscis above it — a nose at once displaced and deformed.
—Eric Boodman, STAT, 23 Oct. 2019
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These rare orchids have long nectar tubes into which moths stick their tonguelike proboscises to reach a sugary reward.
—National Geographic, 22 July 2019
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Armed with a sharp proboscis, immobilizing venom, large compound eyes to locate prey and wings to maneuver through the air.
—Cecilia Rodriguez, Forbes, 5 Feb. 2023
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The scientists suspected that the insect’s proboscis wouldn’t be able to penetrate the graphene barrier.
—Jason Daley, Smithsonian, 20 Aug. 2019
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Some are straightforward paralytics released from a hooked tooth held at the proboscis’s end, which certain snails will launch like a harpoon at hapless fish.
—Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 12 Mar. 2021
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Here’s an image of the rare Dendrophylax lindenii, with its long nectar tubes, into which moths stick their tonguelike proboscises.
—National Geographic, 31 Oct. 2019
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There was also an animal reminiscent of Opabinia, a weird wonder of the Cambrian that had five eyes and a trunklike proboscis.
—Jack Tamisiea, Scientific American, 10 May 2023
Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'proboscis.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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