noun

• A small floating octopus, the female of which has webbed sail-like arms and secretes a thin coiled papery shell in which the eggs are laid.

  Also called paper nautilus

  Genus Argonauta, order Octopoda

  ‘The coleoids include modern squids, cuttlefish, octopuses, and the argonauts or paper-nautilus, together with extinct groups such as the belemnites.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘These ammoniac egg cases/brood chambers closely resemble the female Argonauta shell, produced for this purpose by the adult argonaut.’
  • ‘One of the most astounding cephalopods is the paper nautilus also known as argonaut.’

  Synonyms

  daredevil, seeker of adventures, hero, heroine, swashbuckler, knight errant, crusader, venturer, traveller, voyager, wanderer