The Collaborative International Dictionary
Spatulate \Spat"u*late\, a. [NL. spatulatus.] (Nat. Hist.) Shaped like spatula, or like a battledoor, being roundish, with a long, narrow, linear base. [Also written spathulate.]
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1760, from Modern Latin spatulatus, from spatula (see spatula).
Wiktionary
1 Shaped like a spatula; having a rounded, flattened extremity. 2 (context botany of leaf English) Having a broad, flat end and tapering into a narrower base. alt. 1 Shaped like a spatula; having a rounded, flattened extremity. 2 (context botany of leaf English) Having a broad, flat end and tapering into a narrower base. v
1 To treat or mix with a spatula. 2 To incise the end of a pliable cylindrical structure such that the cut end can be splayed apart and flattened
WordNet
adj. of a leaf shape; having a broad rounded apex and a narrow base [syn: spatula-shaped]
Usage examples of "spatulate".
He still had his cigar tucked between two huge spatulate fingers, and now he stoppered the laugh by inserting it between his lips again and blowing a cloud of smoke in their direction.
With two spatulate hands the handling-machine was digging out and flinging masses of clay into the pear-shaped receptacle above, while with another arm it periodically opened a door and removed rusty and blackened clinkers from the middle part of the machine.
They were broad, spatulate things, not at all his most attractive feature.
And skimming towards the pair, weaving from side to side as it avoided the jagged crests of rock jumbles and the jutting fangs of lone boulders, a second manta flyer reached out its prehistoric neck and spatulate head, and the pouch in its underside yawned open where the neck joined the body.
Bela tapped one photoplate with a spatulate fingernail that wasn't altogether clean.