octopus

Less common meanings

4. 4
   overload outletverbtransitive

   To connect a large number of devices to a single electrical outlet at once.

   By now, the reservation had electricity so THAT had to be octopussed out to the trailers too.

   1985, Ted C. Williams, The Reservation

   Note

   The image is of an outlet sprouting cords like arms, and the word often carries a warning: Hardware Age in 1969 cautions against "octopusing" cords from other cords. Both octopussing and octopusing are in use, and so are the past forms octopussed and octopused. It can take the outlet as its object (outlets octopussed with plugs) or pair with out (power octopussed out to the trailers; plugs octopussing out of a cable). Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

   • Hardware Age cautioned against octopusing cords from other cords. en.wiktionary.org
5. 5
   spread outverbintransitive

   To spread out in many directions like an octopus's arms, or to grow far beyond the original purpose or reach.

   The bug-eyed press octopussed to their respective word processors.

   1995, Donald A. Weatherby, The Star-Spangled Specter

   Dirt roads octopussed into the interior, where there were more dried mud and shrivelled crops.

   1997, The Unesco Courier - Volume 50, Issues 1-6

   Similarsprawl, spread, branch, mushroom

   Note

   Here the verb is intransitive and nearly always followed by a direction. Roads octopus into the interior, legs octopus out from under a chair, and a sprawling house octopuses to its other buildings. It suits anything that branches out from a center. It is spelled with one s or two: octopused or octopussed. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

   • The past tense and past participle can be spelled octopused or octopussed. en.wiktionary.org
6. 6
   verbintransitive

   To reach or grab in many directions at once, like an octopus.

   Night fell especially dark and cold for August, inky blackness tendrilling in, octopussing even the street lamps, now dim with vague form.

   1995, Donald A. Weatherby, The Star-Spangled Specter

   “Strangled in the middle of the night by one of Molly's eight legs.” “Mo-om!” Molly kicked Robin in the shins. “Owww!” Robin lunged against the door. “I've been octopused!”

   2009, Becky Citra, Whiteout

   Note

   The loosest of the verbs, often playful or poetic. Darkness can octopus the street lamps, and in Becky Citra's Whiteout (2009) a girl who has joked about her sister's eight legs in the night is kicked in the shins and cries "I've been octopused!" It can mean grabbing with many hands at once, but it needs no hands at all. Anything that wraps, clings, tangles or flops about like the animal will do. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

   • Becky Citra wrote Whiteout. orcabook.com
   • Whiteout was published in 2009. beckycitra.com
   • Robin says these exact words immediately after her sister Molly kicks her in the shins. en.wiktionary.org
7. 7
   verbintransitive

   To hunt and catch octopuses, especially as a form of fishing.

   CRABBING AND OCTOPUSSING: Use the same method whether you skindive for crabs and octopi or gather them intertidally.

   1977, Peter Howorth, Foraging Along the California Coast

   The sport could be called octopusing or octopus hunting— and any number may play. Supposing you catch an octopus, what do you have?

   1956, Travel - Volume 105

   Note

   Formed like fishing and crabbing, it names an activity and is most at home as a gerund in lists of foraging tasks, as in "crabbing and octopussing" or "fishing, octopusing, digging taro." Travel in 1956 offered it alongside octopus hunting as the name of a sport. Peter Howorth's Foraging Along the California Coast (1977) uses the plural octopi for the catch. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

   • The phrase "crabbing and octopussing" is attested. en.wiktionary.org
   • The phrase "fishing, octopusing, digging taro" is attested. en.wiktionary.org
   • Travel in 1956 presented octopusing and octopus hunting as names for a sport. en.wiktionary.org
   • Peter Howorth's Foraging Along the California Coast uses octopi for the animals being gathered. en.wiktionary.org