*ripa*

n. A peripatetic. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. peripateticus, Gr. &unr_;, fr. &unr_; to walk about; peri` about + &unr_; to walk: cf. F. péripatétique. ] 1. Walking about; itinerant. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Of or pertaining to the philosophy taught by Aristotle (who gave his instructions while walking in the Lyceum at Athens), or to his followers. “The true peripatetic school.” Howell. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who walks about; a pedestrian; an itinerant. Tatler. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A disciple of Aristotle; an Aristotelian. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Peripatetic. [ R. ] Hales. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. péripatétisme. ] The doctrines or philosophical system of the peripatetics. See Peripatetic, n., 2. Lond. Sat. Rev. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. [ NL., fr. Gr. peri`patos a walking about. ] (Zool.) The type genus of Peripatopsidae, consisting of onychophorans (lowly organized invertebrates related evolutionarily to the arthropods, also called “walking worms” AND “velvet worms”) found chiefly in Asiatic and African tropical regions, in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and tropical America.
Syn. -- genus Peripatopsis. [ 1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5 ]

The average resident of the Northern Hemisphere is probably not familiar with the Onychophora; they are restricted to forest regions of South America, Africa, the Caribbean, and Oceania. Shy creatures, able to hide in incredibly tight crevices, these “velvet worms” (about ninety living species known) are rarely seen even in their natural habitat. Yet onychophorans are of great interest to biologists, because they seem to be related to arthropods, and give us an idea of what the ancestors of the arthropods may have been like. Although they are rare as fossils, a number that have been found from the Cambrian period. These fossils show that abundant marine relatives of the Onychophora flourished in the seas 520 million years ago. From: http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/onychoph/onychophora.html [ PJC ]

In the 1913 Webster Peripatus was identified with the now disused order Malacopoda (within the phylum arthropoda); however, Malacopoda is now assigned to a group contained within the phylum Onycophora. The name Peripatus has also been used (possibly erroneously) to designate a specific species, as indicated in the following quotation found on the internet. [ PJC ]

The onychophora, peripatus, is a unique creature, found in New Zealand. There is no other like peripatus. It is probably a creature from the dawn of time, as it seems to have a fossil representative of the most early invertebrates: Aysheaia, as may be found in some deposits of Burgess Shale.
Aside from a lovely name, Peripatus doesn't look much like an earth creature. It is also frequently colored blue. It has a mixture of attributes similar to both annelida and arthopoda. I have also found interesting the arguments taxonomists have had for years over the creature; it's taxonomy has been fussed and fought over, and changed several times. Mostly, there just isn't anything like it.
Its pre-historic relative (which looks just like it), lived at a time when mother nature was just begining to make complex, multi-cellular creatures, and most of them (with the exception of the jellyfish) looked like pure experiments in physical design. No decendants remain of them, except Peripatus. They were all bizzare in the extreme, like something from a sci-fi nightmare. And they are all gone.
Except Peripatus. Peripatus still remains. It is totally bizzare, and totally unique. Jonathon R. Oglesbee [ PJC ]

a. [ Pluri- + L. parere to bring forth. ] Producing several young at a birth; as, a pluriparous animal. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Pluri- + partite. ] (Bot.) Deeply divided into several portions. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. purpura purple + parere to produce. ] (Biol.) Producing, or connected with, a purple-colored secretion; as, the purpuriparous gland of certain gastropods. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. quadripartitus, p. p. of quadripartire to divide into four parts; quattuor four + partire to divide: cf. F. quadripartite. ] Divided into four parts. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In four parts. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. quadripartitio: cf. F. quadripartition. ] A division or distribution by four, or into four parts; also, a taking the fourth part of any quantity or number. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. riparius, fr. ripa a bank. See River, and cf. Arrive. ] Of or pertaining to the bank of a river; as, riparian rights. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. riparius. ] Growing along the banks of rivers; riparian. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. securis ax, hatchet + E. palp. ] (Zool.) One of a family of beetles having the maxillary palpi terminating in a hatchet-shaped joint. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. sudor sweat + parere to produce. ] (Physiol.) Same as Sudoriferous. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Pref. tri- + palmitate. ] (Chem.) A palmitate derived from three molecules of palmitic acid. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Pref. tri- + palmitin. ] (Physiol. Chem.) See Palmitin. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) See Trepang. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Pref. tri- + parted. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. (Her.) Parted into three piece; having three parts or pieces; -- said of the field or of a bearing; as, a cross triparted. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Bot.) Divided nearly to the base into three segments or lobes. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Divisible into three parts. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ See Tripartite. ] (Arith.) Dividing into three parts; -- said of a number which exactly divides another into three parts. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. tripartitus; tri- (see Tri-) + partitus, p. p. of partiri to part, to divide. See Part, v. i. ] 1. Divided into three parts; triparted; as, a tripartite leaf. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Having three corresponding parts or copies; as, to make indentures tripartite. A. Smith. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Made between three parties; as, a tripartite treaty. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a tripartite manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. tripartition. ] A division by threes, or into three parts; the taking of a third part of any number or quantity. [ 1913 Webster ]