estivation
nounUK /ˌiːstɪˈveɪʃən/
US /ˌɛstəˈveɪʃən/
A long summer sleep that some animals take to stay cool and safe when it is very hot and dry.
During estivation, the desert snail hides in its shell until the rains return.
RELATED WORDS
OTHER MEANINGS
2. In botany, the way flower parts are folded and arranged inside a bud before it opens.
The estivation of the petals in the rose bud is tightly overlapping.
3. The state of passing the summer in a quiet or inactive way.
The sleepy town's estivation meant empty streets until September.
4. The arrangement of parts in a bud, especially the folding of sepals or petals.
Botanists studied the estivation pattern to classify the plant.