Ba*thyb"i*us (?), n. [NL., fr. Gr. deep + life] Zool.
A name given by Prof. Huxley to a gelatinous substance found in mud dredged from the Atlantic and preserved in alcohol. He supposed that it was free living protoplasm, covering a large part of the ocean bed. It is now known that the substance is of chemical, not of organic, origin.
© Webster 1913.