noun

• (countable, loosely) Any of several marine molluscs of the order Octopoda, having no internal or external protective shell or bone (unlike the nautilus, squid and cuttlefish) and eight arms each covered with suckers.
  "Even octopuses without stylets almost certainly retain the molecular machinery necessary to build them."
• (countable, strictly) A mollusc from genus Octopus.
• (uncountable) The flesh of these marine molluscs eaten as food.
• (countable) An organization that has many powerful branches controlled from the centre.

verb

• (by extension) To grow in use vastly beyond what was originally intended.
  "The interlocking business organizations have octopussed beyond all imagining in recent years; they are intermingled with citizens' union-smashing committees and women's strikebreaking “patriotic” groups, such as Neutral Thousands and Women of the Pacific."