The Collaborative International Dictionary
Cartilaginous \Car`ti*lag"i*nous\, a. [L. cartilaginosus: cf. F. cartilagineux.]
Of or pertaining to cartilage; gristly; firm and tough like cartilage.
(Zo["o]l.) Having the skeleton in the state of cartilage, the bones containing little or no calcareous matter; said of certain fishes, as the sturgeon and the sharks.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1540s, from French cartilagineux and directly from Latin cartilaginosus, from cartilago (genitive cartilaginis) "cartilage, gristle" (see cartilage).
Wiktionary
a. 1 Comprising of soft cartilage rather than bones. 2 Related to or resembling cartilage 3 (context mycology English) Having a tough or fibrous texture, usually in reference to a mushroom stipe
WordNet
Usage examples of "cartilaginous".
They had wide catfishlike mouths, equipped with cartilaginous ridges rather than teeth.
As I understand it, he actually anticipated in his pamphlet Saint Hilaire's theory of the universal type, and supported the hypothesis by describing the notochord of the amphioxus as a cartilaginous vertebral column.
The calyx tube is thickly covered with soft, cartilaginous bristles.
A long cartilaginous tube came out of a hole near the top of the hemisphere, just below the rotating collar.
In the hubbub of controversy, the 'minimal' hypotheses were contemptuously dismissed: even if the long-awaited contact with the 'reasoning monster' did not materialize, it was argued that it was still worth investigating the cartilaginous cities of the mimoids and the ballooning mountains that rose above the ocean because we would gain valuable chemical and physio-chemical information, and enlarge our understanding of the structure of giant molecules.
He felt the sternum, made sure of the location of the cartilaginous xiphoid process at the sternum's end, so as not to bruise the liver or spring the ribs loose-then.