a. [f. L. *tēlifer dart-bearing, f. tēlum dart: see -FEROUS.]
† 1. Bearing darts or missiles. Obs. rare.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., Teliferous,… which beareth darts, arrows or weapons.
1658. in Phillips.
2. Zool. Armed with nematocysts or stinging cells, as the Telifera, a division of the Cœlenterata comprising all except the Sponges (Porifera).
1860. Gosse, Hist. Brit. Sea-Anemones, Introd. 22. Teliferous System…. The Actinaria are furnished with a system of armature of most extraordinary character…. Their tissues contain excessively minute bodies, in the form of oblong or oval transparent vesicles, which have the power of shooting out a long thread of extensive tenuity.
