Definition of "thecate" []

• Having a theca; encased or sheathed. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "By analyzing DNA sequences contained in the plastid of the thecate amoeba Paulinella, researchers have shown that it is a recent endosymbiont whose genome features are virtually unchanged from those of its cyanobacterial progenitor."
• "Attached forms; thecate and _Urnulidæ_ athecate tentacles simple, one or two in number"
• "Naked or thecate; stalked or not; _Acinetidæ_ tentacles numerous, usually knobbed and all alike"