octopuslike

Adjective

octopuslike (comparative more octopuslike, superlative most octopuslike)

1. Resembling or characteristic of an octopus, for example in having eight (or many) arms.
   • The divers grappled each other in an octopuslike duel.1961, Victor Appleton, Tom Swift and the Electronic Hydrolung
   • A white octopuslike beast is described as something that escapes when the ice thaws to collect "escaped spirits until the next frost"; a hulking presence in the painting, it's rendered even more alarming by the diagram, in which it looms over the silhouetted man.2004 July 9, Fred Camper, “Living in a Dream World”, in Chicago Reader

   Synonyms:

   octopal, octopean, octopian, octopic, octopine, octopodal, octopodean, octopodial, octopodian, octopodic

2. Widespread or able (from a central point) to control or manipulate many things.
   • Matsui, the Mitsubishi and other great families which had built up an octopuslike control of industry, banking and trade — would be put out of action.1948, Henry Robinson Luce, Time, page 26
   • The agency announced plans yesterday to subdivide the octopuslike system and make the manager of each line responsible for everything on that line, from bunched-together trains to unintelligible public-address announcements.2007 December 7, James Barron, “Bigger Cars, Flip-Up Seats, Poetry: How Riders Would Run a Subway”, in New York Times