python

From Latin pȳthon, from Ancient Greek Πύθων (Púthōn), the name of the mythological enormous serpent at Delphi slain by Apollo, probably from Πυθώ (Puthṓ), older name of Delphi.

(zoology) A type of large constricting snake.


rite of passage

en-noun

rite of passage (plural rites of passage)

After John officially attained his majority, Robert bought him his first beer. This is a common American rite of passage.

The so-called rites of passage, which occupy such a prominent place in the life of a primitive society (ceremonials of birth, naming, puberty, marriage, burial, etc.), are distinguished by formal, and usually very severe, exercises of severance, whereby the mind is radically cut away from the attitudes, attachments, and life patterns of the stage being left behind.

1968, Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, 2nd edition, London: Fontana Press, published 1993, page 10:

In the final, affirming piece, "They Tell Me...Now I Know," the girlchild narrator begins menstruation, thus undergoing her rite of passage into womanhood.

1989 December 17, Terri L. Jewell, “The Power Of Black Women Together”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 23, page 13:

Not only did these holiday resorts become a rite of passage for TV's biggest talents – Red Coats comedians, magicians and presenters were often scouted, then sent to perform live at places like the London Palladium, before securing a television contract – but the culture within them meant that the audience were already invested in this type of entertainment once they returned home.

2021 September 15, Laura Martin, “How talent shows became TV's most bizarre programmes”, in BBC:

(anthropology) A ceremony or series of ceremonies, often very ritualized, to celebrate a transition in a person’s life. Baptisms, bar mitzvahs, weddings and funerals are among the best known examples.


Mesolithic

Of or referring to the Middle Stone Age (also the Mesolithic period or the Mesolithic age), a prehistoric period that lasted between 10000 and 3000 BC.


Paleolithic

We find material evidences of magical practices in the European caves of the Palæolithic age[.]

1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 18:

Of or referring to the Old Stone Age (the Paleolithic period or Paleolithic age).


conchology

conchology (usually uncountable, plural conchologies)

/kɒŋˈkɒləd͡ʒi/

From conch or Ancient Greek κόγχη (kónkhē) + -ology.

"Thank goodness, I am not a child," said Lady Mandeville, turning over a collection of those juvenile tomes, which are to make the rising generation so much wiser than their grandfathers or grandmothers—catechisms of conchology, geology, mathematical questions for infants, geography, astronomy; "the child may be 'father to the man;' but the said father must have had some trouble with his offspring."

1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter VI, in Romance and Reality. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 94:

The least dreadful among the essays stacked and waiting to be corrected would be that of young Master Jefferson Davis, who when imprisoned by Andrew Johnson in 1866 will ask his physician at Fortress Monroe to procure a few volumes of "conchology, geology, or botany," he desiring to commune with the interests of more innocent days.


ulama

There is a bird in Ceylon, which the natives call ulama, or the demon bird, which utters most loud and ear-piercing screams, strongly resembling the shrieks of a human being in severe bodily agony.

1849 June 20, The Dublin University Magazine, page 692:

The devil bird (an avian cryptid of Sri Lanka)


PST

(linguistics, anthropology) Initialism of Proto-Sino-Tibetan.


urochord

(zoology) A notochord that is limited to the caudal region; especially in the Urochordata


IE

See also: PIE

(linguistics, anthropology, etc.) Initialism of Indo-European.


cocoon

[kʰɘ̞ˈkʰu̟ːn]

From French cocon, diminutive of coque (“shell”).

The silky protective case spun by the larvae of some insects in which they metamorphose, the pupa.

Any similar protective case, whether real or metaphorical.

cocon

any similar protective case, whether real or metaphorical


cocoon

en-verb

cocoon (third-person singular simple present cocoons, present participle cocooning, simple past and past participle cocooned)

cocoons (present singular third-person)
cocooning (participle present)
cocooned (participle past)
cocooned (past)

[kʰɘ̞ˈkʰu̟ːn]

(intransitive) To withdraw into such a case.


opisthosoma

en-noun

opisthosoma (plural opisthosomas or opisthosomata)

opisthosomas (plural)
opisthosomata (plural)

(zoology) The posterior segment of the two-part body structure of chelicerates. Often used interchangeably with abdomen.


ruffle

From Middle English ruffelen, perhaps from Old Norse hrufla (“to graze, scratch”) or Middle Low German ruffelen (“to wrinkle, curl”). Further origin unknown. Related to Middle Dutch ruyffelen, German Low German ruffeln. See English ruff.

unk

unknown

(zoology) The connected series of large egg capsules, or oothecae, of several species of American marine gastropods of the genus Fulgur.


agonistic

en-adj

agonistic (comparative more agonistic, superlative most agonistic)

more agonistic (comparative)
most agonistic (superlative)

From Ancient Greek ἀγωνιστικός (agōnistikós).

Although most agonistic interactions consist of signals of threat and submission, symbolic aggression is effective only because the possibility of escalation exists […]

1978, Donald Symons, “The Question of Function: Dominance and Play”, in Euclid O. Smith, editor, Social Play in Primates, New York: Academic Press, page 207:

This was clearly such an event, but like the ancient religion of Israel, it was also deeply agonistic.

2006, Karen Armstrong, The Great Transformation, Atlantic Books, published 2007, page 66:

Sociality swung wildly between extremes of collective affiliation and agonistic striving for dominance.

2014, Lucas Bessire, Behold the Black Caiman: A Chronicle of Ayoreo Life, The University of Chicago Press, Introduction, p. 8:

(zoology, anthropology) Characterised by conflict or hostility.


alpha female

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-alpha female.wav

(zoology, ethology) The dominant female in a social or group hierarchy.


apomixis

en-noun

apomixis (countable and uncountable, plural apomixes)

From German Apomixis, from apo- + mixis.

(zoology) Animal reproduction in which the egg cell does not undergo meiosis or fertilization.

apomiksja

animal reproduction in which the egg cell does not undergo meiosis or fertilization


rudimentary

/ˌɹuːdɪˈmɛntəɹi/

/ˌɹuːdɪˈmɛnt͡ʃɹi/

(zoology, usually in the plural) One of the rudimentary mammae of boars.


embolus

The term was coined in 1848 by Rudolf Virchow From Latin embolus (“piston”), from Ancient Greek ἔμβολος (émbolos, “peg, stopper”).

der

Those spiders with a simple bulb insert most of this; those with a complex palp insert only the embolus, which in some species is very long […]

1996, Michael J Roberts, Spiders of Britain and Northern Europe, Collins, published 1996, page 22:

(zoology) The structure on the end of the palp of male arachnids which contains the opening to the ejaculatory duct.


talon

From Middle English talon, taloun, from Old French talon (“heel, spur”), from Medieval Latin tālōnem, from Vulgar Latin *tālōnis, from Latin tālus (“ankle”).

(zoology) One of certain small prominences on the hind part of the face of an elephant's tooth.


TI

en-noun

TI (countable and uncountable, plural TIs)

tonic immobility
tonic immobility#English

(zoology) Initialism of tonic immobility.


alloparenting

Some alloparenting relationships among animals resemble adoption, although more resemble foster care or wet-nursing.

1992, Richard A. Posner, Sex and Reason, Paperback edition, Harvard University Press, published 1994, page 407:

The behaviors associated with alloparenting are phenotypically similar to maternal and paternal care.

1997, C. Sue Carter, R. Lucille Roberts, “9: The Psychobiological Basis of Cooperative Breeding in Rodents”, in Nancy G. Solomon, Jeffrey A. French, editors, Cooperative Breeding in Mammals, Cambridge University Press, published 2007, page 256:

Characteristics of species in which alloparenting occurs include organization into small, close-knit, and cooperative groups and infants being born relatively helpless and dependent on care from adults.

2016, Abigail A. Marsh, “9: Extraordinary Altruism: A Cognitive Neuroscience Perspective”, in Joshua David Greene, India Morrison, Martin E. P. Seligman, editors, Positive Neuroscience, Oxford University Press, page 150:

(ethology) Parental behaviour towards infants and young from non-parents.


peritoneum

peritoneum (plural peritoneums or peritonea)

From Latin peritonaeum, from Ancient Greek περιτόναιον (peritónaion), from περιτόναιος (peritónaios, “stretched or strained over”).

(zoology) In animals, the membrane lining the coelom cavity.


eavesdrop

en-verb

eavesdrop (third-person singular simple present eavesdrops, present participle eavesdropping, simple past and past participle eavesdropped)

eavesdrops (present singular third-person)
eavesdropping (participle present)
eavesdropped (participle past)
eavesdropped (past)

From eaves + drop; the "listening" sense derives from the notion of the listener standing in the area denoted by the physical sense.

[…] Eastern Red Bat will eavesdrop on the sonar calls of other red bats to locate potential insect prey.

1993, David W. Nagorsen, Robert Mark Brigham, Royal British Columbia Museum, Bats of British Columbia, page 109:

Frog-biting midges also depend on eavesdropping for reproduction, and one would predict similarly strong selection to evolve auditory adaptations for hearing and localizing calls of their hosts.

2014, Ken Yasukawa, Animal Behavior: How and Why Animals Do the Things They Do:

(zoology) To listen for another organism's calls, so as to exploit them.


entomologist

The noted entomologist Charles W. Woodworth suggested the use of Drosophila melanogaster for genetic studies.

DENR entomologists recall that beetle infestation of the agohos is similar to another which killed thousands of pine trees in Benguet in 1981.

1989, The Philippine Lumberman, volume 35:

Colorado stood at the brink of an outbreak that another Forest Service entomologist would dub “Beetlegeddon.”

2012, Michael Lanza, Before They're Gone: A Family's Year-Long Quest to Explore America's Most Endangered National Parks, page 104:


AAS

(anthropology) Initialism of Australian Anthropological Society.

(arachnology) Initialism of American Arachnological Society (a society of amateur and professional arachnologists)


oviduct

Borrowed from New Latin oviductus. By surface analysis, ovi- + -duct.

(anatomy, typically used in zoology) A duct through which an ovum passes from an ovary to the uterus or to the exterior.


rasorial

en-adj

rasorial (comparative more rasorial, superlative most rasorial)

more rasorial (comparative)
most rasorial (superlative)

/ɹəˈsɔːɹɪəl/

From Rasores, the obsolete taxonomic order of birds including chickens and other poultry, and + -ial.

(ornithology, historical) Pertaining to the now obsolete order Rasores.


paries

Borrowed from Latin pariēs (“wall of a house or room”). Compare French paroi (“wall”), Italian parete (“wall”), Portuguese parede (“wall”) Spanish pared (“wall”) and Romanian perete (“wall”).

bor

(zoology) The triangular middle part of each segment of the shell of a barnacle.


warm-blooded

en-adj

warm-blooded (comparative more warm-blooded or warmer-blooded, superlative most warm-blooded or warmest-blooded)

more warm-blooded (comparative)
warmer-blooded (comparative)
most warm-blooded (superlative)
warmest-blooded (superlative)

The cold-blooded animals are all feeble breathers, and the most energetic breathers are the warmest-blooded. A mollusc, a fish, a frog, a quadruped, and a bird, represent the various stages of this correspondence.

1858 October, [George Henry Lewes], “Animal Heat”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume LXXXIV, number DXVI, Edinburgh: William Blackwood & Sons, page 427, column 1:

Moreover, instead of hibernating like our northern reptiles, they [birds] are able to remain active all winter, even in arctic latitudes, so long as sufficient food is available to maintain the body. This retention of heat increases the body temperature, and implies an increase as well of the creature’s activity, so that birds in addition to being the warmest-blooded animals are at the same time the quickest and most active.

1925 September, Glover Morrill Allen, “Feathers”, in Birds and Their Attributes, Boston, Mass.: Marshall Jones Company, published 1937 February, page 37:

“It’s getting chilly,” the Asian chick said, maybe just to hear the sound of her own voice. […] / “Oh, I don’t know. Feels all right to me.” / “I guess you’re warmer-blooded than I am. Could I have my sweatshirt now?”

2016, Barry Eisler, Livia Lone, Seattle, Wash.: Thomas & Mercer, →ISBN, page 6:

We stood there, shivering, colder even than when we had been on our horses, for horses are warmer-blooded than their riders, and one always gains heat from them.

2016, Fiona Buckley [pseudonym; Valerie Anand], The Heretic’s Creed (The Ursula Blanchard Mysteries), Sutton, Surrey: Crème de la Crime, →ISBN, page 73:

(zoology) Maintaining a relatively constant and warm body temperature, regardless of the ambient temperature; endothermic.


receptacle

From Middle English receptacle, from Anglo-Norman receptacle and Middle French receptacle (“organ containing a fluid; gathering place; water basin”) (modern French réceptacle), from Latin receptāculum (“animal enclosure, container, place of refuge, receptacle, repository, reservoir, shelter”), from receptāre (“to harbour, to receive, to shelter”) or receptō (“I receive back or again, I recover”), frequentative of recipiō (“I receive; I hold back, I reserve”) (from re- (“back, again”) + capiō (“I hold”)) + -culum (suffix forming nouns from verbs, particularly nouns representing tools and instruments); cognate with Italian recettaculo, ricettaculo, Portuguese receptáculo, Spanish receptáculo.

der

National Electrical Manufacturers Association

(zoology) An organ that receives and holds a secretion.


monogamous

/məˈnɒɡəməs/

/məˈnɑɡəməs/

(zoology) Having only one sexual partner at a time.

monògam

having only one sexual partner at a time


proboscis

en-noun

proboscis (plural proboscises or proboscides or probosces)

proboscises (plural)
proboscides (plural)
probosces (plural)

From Latin proboscis, from Ancient Greek προβοσκίς (proboskís, “elephant's trunk”) literally "means for taking food," from προ- (pro-, “before”) + βόσκω (bóskō, “to nourish, feed”), from the Proto-Indo-European root *gʷeh₃- from which also comes βοτάνη (botánē, “grass, fodder”).

affix

Unlike the proboscides of Lower brachyceran lineages, which are continuous with the head capsule and tend to dangle (Matsuda 1965), the proboscides of most cyclorrhaphan species are suspended by a membranous region and divided into three functional parts: the basiproboscis (rostrum), medioproboscis (haustellum), and distiproboscis (labellum), each of which is defined by internal muscles but also shares muscles with the other regions (Graham-Smith 1930; Lall and Davies 1971).

2012, Brian Wiegmann, The Evolutionary Biology of Flies, page 225:

(anatomy) An elongated tube from the head or connected to the mouth, of an animal.

(entomology, malacology) The tubular feeding and sucking organ of certain invertebrates like insects, worms and molluscs.


pinna

From Latin pinna (“dorsal fin; wing, feather”). Doublet of pen, penna, and panne.

der

Meronyms: antihelix, antitragus, concha, helix, tragus

(anatomy, zoology) The visible part of the ear in most therians that resides outside of the head, the auricle; outer ear excluding the ear canal.

(zoology) A feather, wing, fin, or other similar appendage.


reptilian

en-adj

reptilian (comparative more reptilian, superlative most reptilian)

more reptilian (comparative)
most reptilian (superlative)

From reptile + -ian, replacing earlier reptilious and adjectival reptile.

The Mesozoic represents that time on Earth when life flourished, but when such life was primarily reptilian, before the Age of Mammals.

2012, Chinle Miller, In Mesozoic Lands: The Mesozoic Geology of Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, Kindle edition:

(zoology) Of or relating to the members of the class Reptilia (reptiles).


animalcule

Learned borrowing from Late Latin animalculum (“lowly or small animal”) + English -cule (diminutive suffix). Animalculum is derived from Latin animal (“animal; living creature”) + -culum (diminutive suffix); and animal from animāle, the nominative neuter singular of animālis (“animate, living; relating to living creatures”), from anima (“breath; life; soul, spirit”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂enh₁- (“to breathe”)) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship). The English word is analysable as animal + -cule.

der

If we are part of nature, then we are synonymous with it at the metaphysical level, every bit as much as the first all-but-inorganic animalcules that ever formed a chain of themselves in the blow hole of a primordial sea vent.

2011, John Jeremiah Sullivan, “La·hwi·ne·ski: Career of an Eccentric Naturalist”, in Pulphead, New York, N.Y.: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →OCLC, pages 212–213:

(zoology, archaic) A microscopic aquatic animal, including protozoa and rotifers.


chorion

From Late Latin chorion, from Ancient Greek χόριον (khórion, “membrane surrounding the fetus, afterbirth”).

The chorion has a predominantly lamellar structure, the lamellae being two-dimensional networks of protein fibrils.

1994, Klaus Urich, Comparative Animal Biochemistry, page 392:

Even closely related species may have chorions differing in thickness. In the silkmoths, for example, the chorion of Bombyx is about 25 μm thick while that of Hyalophora is 55 μm thick.

1998, R. F. Chapman, The Insects: Structure and Function, page 326:

2008, John L. Capinera, Eggs of Insects, entry in John L. Capinera (editor), Encyclopedia of Entomology, page 1290,
In addition to facilitating gas exchange and water conservation, the chorion must, in some cases, allow uptake of water or liquid nutrients from the environment.

(biology, entomology) The outer case of an insect egg.


petiole

Borrowed from French pétiole, and its source, Late Latin petiolus (“little foot”), diminutive form of Latin pēs (“foot”).

(entomology, insect anatomy) A narrow or constricted segment of the body of an insect; especially, the metasomal segment of certain Hymenoptera, such as wasps.

(entomology) The stalk at the base of the nest of the paper wasp.


spinal

Borrowed from Late Latin spīnālis (“of or belonging to the spine”), from spīna (“a prickle, spine”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix). By surface analysis, spine + -al.

af

(anatomy, zootomy) Of or relating to the spine.

(zoology) (of a frog or other experimental animal) Having a pithed brain, but an intact surgically isolated spinal cord.


territoriality

en-noun

territoriality (countable and uncountable, plural territorialities)

/tɛɹɪtɔːɹɪˈalɪti/

(zoology) The pattern of behaviour in animals that defines and defends a territory.


hoard

From Middle English hord, from Old English hord (“an accumulation of valuable objects cached for preservation or future use; treasure; hoard”), from Proto-West Germanic *hoʀd, from Proto-Germanic *huzdą (“treasure; hoard”), of unknown origin, but possibly derived from Proto-Indo-European *kewdʰ- (“to conceal, hide”), thus meaning “something hidden”. Cognate with German Hort (“hoard; refuge”), Icelandic hodd (“treasure”), Latin cū̆stōs (“guard; keeper”). For the meaning development compare Russian сокро́вище (sokróvišče, “treasure”) related to Russian скрыва́ть (skryvátʹ, “to hide, to conceal”).

m+

non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger

(archaeology) A cache of valuable objects or artefacts; a trove.


webbing

en-noun

webbing (countable and uncountable, plural webbings)


chelate

en-adj

chelate (comparative more chelate, superlative most chelate)

more chelate (comparative)
most chelate (superlative)

From chela + -ate (adjective-forming suffix).

/ˈtʃɪːˌleɪt/

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-chelate.wav

(zoology) Having chelae, or in the form of a chela.[from 19th c.]


wheelhouse

From wheel + house. Sense 3 (“(baseball) a pitch location which is favourable to the hitter”) references the fact that a vessel is controlled from its wheelhouse (sense 1.2), and sense 4 (“a person’s area of authority or expertise”) is a figurative use of sense 3.

Most Celtic houses in Britain were simply constructed. They were generally round as in the remains of the house at Little Woodbury in Wiltshire, the wheelhouse at Jarlshof in Shetland, or the house on an unenclosed platform at Greenknowe in Berwickshire. [...] The roof of the Greenknowe house was conical. It had rafters fanning outwards from a high top, like the spokes of an umbrella. You can see why it is called a wheelhouse. The rafters were held at their lower ends on a horizontal ring of timber that rested on vertical posts with Y-shaped tops.

1982, Peter Somerset Fry, Fiona Somerset Fry, “Celts, Caledonians and Romans (first century BC–fifth century AD)”, in The History of Scotland, London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge & Kegan Paul, →ISBN; republished Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005, →ISBN, page 16:

Ancestors of the historical Picts can be credited with the structural form of the wheelhouse with its western and northern affinities, and with the souterrain, and distribution and function of which is becoming clearer, but which may now be thought to have persisted in evolved form until the middle part of the first millennium AD [...].

1986, J[ohn] R. Hunter, “Phase 1”, in I. B. M. Ralston, A. N. Shepherd, editors, Rescue Excavations on the Brough of Birsay 1974–82 (Monograph Series; no. 4), Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, →ISBN, section 2:1 (The Native Background), page 25:

(archaeology) A prehistoric structure from the Iron Age found in Scotland, characteristically including an outer wall within which a circle of stone piers (resembling the spokes of a wheel) form the basis for lintel arches supporting corbelled roofing with a hearth at the hub.


bulla

Borrowed from Latin bulla (“bubble”). Doublet of bull.

(archaeology) A clay envelope or hollow ball, typically with seal impressions or writing on its outside indicating its contents.


shinny

shinny (canonical)
shinny hockey (canonical)

(US, anthropology) A hockey-like game played by American Indians.


mateship

en-noun

mateship (usually uncountable, plural mateships)

From mate + -ship. Cognate with Dutch maatschap (“partnership”).

The mateships of the three last-named animals are solitary, though in the case of wolves, the separated members of various mateships gather in packs during the winter months.

1942, Fred August Moss, Edward Lee Thorndike, Comparative Psychology, page 370:

Further, in most cultures without systems of codified laws, long-term mateships are ritually sanctioned by the community. If we are not to have too provincial a conception of marriage, these mateships should also count as marriages.

2005, David J. Buller, Adapting Minds: Evolutionary Psychology And The Persistent Quest For Human Nature, page 259:

In Homo sapiens we find two types of polygamous mateships, polygyny and polyandry, and social structures based on these are ordinarily called “families.” Relatively rare in man in an institutionalized form, polyandrous mateships appear to be absent in infrahuman primates.

2010, A. Irving Hallowell, “15: The Protocultural Foundations of Human Adaptation”, in Yehudi A. Cohen, editor, Human Adaptation: The Biosocial Background, page 164:

The most frequent conflict within human mateships is the conflict between male sexual persistence and female sexual resistance.

2012, Dietrich Klusmann, Wolfgang Berner, “Chapter 14: Sexual Motivation in Mateships an Sexual Conflict”, in Todd K. Shackelford, Aaron T. Goetz, editors, The Oxford Handbook of Sexual Conflict in Humans, page 233:

(countable, zoology, psychology, anthropology) A relationship based on mating.


alveolus

Borrowed from Latin alveolus (“a small hollow or cavity”), diminutive of alveus (“a hollow, cavity”).

bor

(entomology) The socket of a macrotrichium (seta).

A small cavity or pit.
The socket of a macrotrichium (seta).


testate

High frequency of species with acrostomy, eg species of the genera Euglypha, Assulina and Nebela, supports the conclusion that humidity is a major structuring force for testate amoebae at TH III.

2010, Valentyna Krashevska, Mark Maraun, Stefan Scheu, “Micro-and macroscale changes in density and diversity of testate amoebae of tropical montane rain forests of Southern Ecuador”, in Acta Protozoologica, volume 49, number 1:

(zoology) Having a test (external calciferous shell or endoskeleton)


cortex

en-noun

cortex (countable and uncountable, plural cortexes or cortices)

(archaeology) The outer surface of a piece of flint.


saddle

→ Japanese: サドル (sadoru)

Homer Tunnel
Milford Sound
Oxford English Dictionary

From Middle English sadel, from Old English sadol, from Proto-West Germanic *sadul, from Proto-Germanic *sadulaz (“saddle”). Further etymology uncertain, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *sod-dʰlo-, from *sed- (“to sit”) + *-dʰlom (a variant of *-trom (suffix forming nouns denoting instruments or tools)), though the Oxford English Dictionary says this “presents formal difficulties”.
cognates
* Danish sadel
* Dutch zadel
* German Sattel
* Icelandic söðull
* Low German Sadel
* Russian седло́ (sedló)
* Saterland Frisian Soadel
* Scots sadil
* Swedish sadel
* West Frisian seal

saal

seat for a rider placed on the back of a horse or other animal

satula

something resembling a saddle in appearance or shape

satula

depression located along the axial trend of an anticline

Something resembling a saddle (sense 1) in appearance or shape.

The clitellum of an earthworm (family Lumbricidae).

The lower part of the back of a domestic fowl, especially a male bird, bearing the saddle feathers or saddle hackles.

alaselkä

Pagophilus groenlandicus
Pagophilus groenlandicus#Translingual

Boa constrictor
Boa constrictor#Translingual

In full saddle marking or saddle patch: a saddle-like marking on an animal, such as one on the back of an adult harp seal or saddleback seal (Pagophilus groenlandicus), or any of numerous such markings on a boa constrictor (Boa constrictor).


gladius

From Latin gladius (“Roman short sword, gladius”). Doublet of glaive.

bor

From the Cretaceous of North America fossilised gladii in the enigmatic genus Tusoteuthis have been estimated to give a mantle length (body size) of 1.8m, just less than that of the giant squid’s.

2017 October 31, Mark Carnall, The Guardian:

(zoology) A pen, a hard internal bodypart of certain cephalopods, made of chitin-like material.


steamer

From steam + -er. The steamer duck or steamer (sense 6.2) is apparently named for its resemblance to a paddle steamer when swimming rapidly.

A steamer duck: any of the four species of the duck genus Tachyeres which are all found in South America, three of which are flightless.


eavesdropping

en-noun

eavesdropping (countable and uncountable, plural eavesdroppings)

(zoology) The act of one organism listening for another's calls, so as to exploit them.


phocine

From Latin phōca (“seal”) (from Ancient Greek φώκη (phṓkē)) + -ine.

Phocines anchor their hands by flexing their fingers, digging them into the substrate, and then pulling their body forward by elbow and shoulder flexion.

2007, Brian Keith Hall, Fins into Limbs, page 313:

(zoology) A member of the subfamily Phocinae, comprising the "true" or "earless" seals.


arcus

Borrowed from Latin arcus. Doublet of arc and arco. Distantly related to arrow.

(entomology) An elastic band around the base of the arolium, a pad at the end of the leg of certain insects


bilateral

en-adj

bilateral (comparative more bilateral, superlative most bilateral)

more bilateral (comparative)
most bilateral (superlative)

(anthropology) Involving descent or ascent regardless of sex and side of the family.

bilateral

involving descent or ascent regardless of sex and side of the family


sharpshooter

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-sharpshooter.wav

sharp + shooter, a calque of German Scharfschütze.

professional wrestling
professional wrestling

(professional wrestling) A submission hold characterized by one wrestler twisting the other's legs upwards while sitting on their back.


rutting

(zoology) Pairing; the period of time when certain ungulates mate.


domus

Borrowed from Latin domus. Doublet of dome and duomo.

The domus was a unique and unprecedented concentration of tilled fields, seed and graain stores, people, and domestic animals, all coevolving with consequences no one could possibly have foreseen.

2017, James C Scott, chapter 2, in Against the Grain, New Haven and London: Yale University, →ISBN, page 73:

(anthropology, archaeology) A farmstead with its people, plants and animals, considered as a unit.


tendril

From Middle French tendrillon (“bud, shoot, cartilage”), perhaps a diminutive of tendron (“cartilage”), from Old French tendre (“soft”) (see tender (adj.)), or else from Latin tendere (“to stretch, extend”) (see tender (v.)).


cacique

Borrowed from Spanish cacique, from Taíno *kasike or Lokono kassequa, cazaqah (“chieftain; power”).

(ornithology) Any of a number of tropical blackbirds from Central America and South America, family Icteridae.


cockle

From Middle English cokel, cokkel, kokkel, cocle, of uncertain origin. Perhaps a diminutive of Middle English cokke, cok (“cockle”), from Old English cocc (found in sǣcocc (“cockle”)) + -le; or perhaps from Old French coquille, from Vulgar Latin *cocchilia, from conchylia, from Ancient Greek κογχύλιον (konkhúlion), diminutive of κογχύλη (konkhúlē, “mussel”), of Pre-Greek substrate origin.

(directly from French coquille) A wrinkle, pucker


courtier

From Middle English courteour, from Anglo-Norman corteour, Old French cortoiier, from cort (“court”).

(entomology) Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the Asian genus Sephisa.


introvert

From New Latin intrōvertere, from intro- (“within”) and vertere (“to turn”). Popularized as a psychological term by the German works of Carl Jung. By surface analysis, intro- + -vert.

Important distinctions which obtain amongst the various ‘introverts’ or intro- and e-versible tubes so frequently met with in animal bodies.

1883, E. Ray Lankester, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. XVI, p. 652, s.v. "Mollusca"

Peanut worms (phylum Sipunculida) are drab-colored bottom dwellers, most of which are less then four inches long. Their body is divided into two sections: the trunk and the introvert. The introvert, the narrow neck-like anterior section, is used as a probe.

1990, Deborah A. Coulombe, Seaside Naturalist, →ISBN, page 76:

When a peanut worm feeds, it extends and waves its introvert so that the mouth at the tip wanders across the seabed.

2006, Nematodes, Leeches, and Other Worms, →ISBN, page 38:

The introvert is everted by hydraulic pressure exerted by contraction of body muscles on the coelomic fluid.

2009, Lynn Marguli, Michael J Chapman, Kingdoms and Domains: An Illustrated Guide to the Phyla of Life on Earth, →ISBN:

(zoology) An organ or other body part that is or can be turned inside out, especially an anterior portion of some annelid worms capable of retraction.


introvert

en-verb

introvert (third-person singular simple present introverts, present participle introverting, simple past and past participle introverted)

introverts (present singular third-person)
introverting (participle present)
introverted (participle past)
introverted (past)

/ɪntɹəʊˈvəːt/

His awkward gait, his introverted toes,
Bent knees, round shoulders, and dejected looks […]

1785, William Cowper, "The Task", Cant. IV, ll. 633 ff.

(zoology) To withdraw an organ or body part within itself or its base.


plectrum

Borrowed from Latin plēctrum, from Ancient Greek πλῆκτρον (plêktron, “anything to strike with, an instrument for striking the lyre, a spear point”), from πλήσσειν (plḗssein, “to strike, to smite, to sting”).

uder

(anatomy, zoology) A projection of bone or other stiff tissue, such as the ridges in some insects' stridulatory organs.


aliped

From Latin ala (“wing”) and pes (“foot”) (ali- + -ped).

(zoology) A wing-footed animal; a chiropter or a bat.


aliped

(zoology) Wing-footed; having a membrane connecting the digits.


baguette

Borrowed from French baguette (“stick”), from Italian bacchetta.

(zoology) One of the minute bodies seen in the divided nucleoli of some Infusoria after conjugation.


grenadier

From French grenadier, corresponding to grenade + -ier.

(ornithology) Any of various African weaverbirds or waxbills, especially the common grenadier or the red bishop.

(entomology) Either of two red and black libellulid dragonflies, Agrionoptera insignis and Lathrecista asiatica, of Asia and Australia.


thresher

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *terh₁-der.?
Proto-Germanic *þreskaną
Old English þrescan
Middle English threschen
Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz
Proto-West Germanic *-ārī
Old English -ere
Middle English -er
Middle English thresshere
English thresher
From Middle English thresshere; equivalent to thresh + -er. The shark's tail is thought to resemble the implement.


declivity

1610s, from French déclivité, from Latin declivitatem, dēclīvitās,
from dēclivis (“a sloping downward”), from de (“down”) + clīvus (“a slope”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱleywo-, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱley- (“to lean”) (English lean).

1979, Entomology Circular, Issue 200, Part 366, Division of Plant Industry, page number not shown,
Males of all species have more developed armature of the elytral declivity than females (Figs. S, 6, 8, 9, 11-14).

Propodeum in profile with upper lobe of declivity elongate and narrow, subspiniform, almost as long as lower lobe.

2000, Barry Bolton, “The Ant Tribe Dacetini”, in American Entomological Institute, volume 65, number 2, page 500:

(entomology) An inward curve of the exoskeleton of an insect, such as between body segments; a segment of an insect's body where the exoskeleton curves inward.


airlift

(archaeology) A pipe that is used to suck up objects from the sea bed.


chrysalis

en-noun

chrysalis (plural chrysalises or chrysalides or (rare) chrysalisses)

chrysalises (plural)
chrysalides (plural)
chrysalisses (plural rare)

From Latin chrysalis, from Ancient Greek χρυσαλλίς (khrusallís), from χρυσός (khrusós, “gold”), because of the color of some of them.

Amongst the particular signs testifying the same thing, are also those exhibited by worms which feed on herbs, which, when they are to undergo a metamorphosis, encompass themselves as with a womb, that they may be born again, being therein changed into nymphs and chrysalisses, and presently into beautiful butterflies, when they fly into the air as into their heaven, where the female sports with her male companion, as one conjugal partner with another, and they nourish themselves from odoriferous flowers, and lay their eggs, thus providing that their species may live after them: […]

1828, The Athanasian Creed, Extracted from the Apocalypse or Book of Revelations Explained, of Emanuel Swedenborg, Boston, Mass.: Adonis Howard, […], page 174:

The herbaceous or herbiferous produce had such gummy gelatinous properties, that tiniest tiddles incorporated themselves into huge chrysalisses, from whence monster butterflies egged it, all the world over, like snowberries, during a moist September, as soon as the blossom is by!

1857, Charles Hancock, Gaieties and Gravities for Holy Days and Holidays, London: Saunders and Otley, […], page 155:

Caterpillars, chrysalisses soon reveal / The future gandy butterfly.

1865, [Johann Wolfgang von] Goethe, translated by William Barnard Clarke, Translation of Goethe’s Faust, Iˢᵗ and IIⁿᵈ Parts, Freiburg: Schmidt, page 264:

Fanny was afraid. She was like an insect new-hatched from its chrysalis, naked and unprotected in a dawn she could not face.

1929, M. Barnard Eldershaw, chapter VII, in A House is Built, section VIII:

A project on butterflies! And caterpillars and chrysalisses and things, and lots of nice drawings, coloured with felt pens.

1979, Sheila Lavelle, My Best Fiend, London: Hamish Hamilton, →ISBN, page 165:

The pupa of a butterfly or moth, enclosed inside a cocoon, in which metamorphosis takes place.


crepuscular

en-adj

crepuscular (comparative more crepuscular, superlative most crepuscular)

more crepuscular (comparative)
most crepuscular (superlative)

Learned borrowing from Latin crepusculum + -ar.

lbor

That's why cats are crepuscular — most active at dawn and dusk — because mice and rats forage for food during these hours when fewer of their natural enemies are around.

1999, J. Anne Helgren, Communicating with Your Cat, →ISBN, page 51:

(zoology) Active at or around dusk, dawn or twilight.

crepuscular

active at or around dusk, dawn or twilight


insectivore

/ɪnˈsɛktəˌvɔː/

/ɪnˈsɛktəˌvɔɹ/

From French insectivore. In the zoological sense, coined by English philosopher and historian of science William Whewell in 1840 as an adaptation of Cuvier's coinage, French insectivore. The French terms reflect scientific New Latin origins. By surface analysis, insect + -i- + -vore.

surf

(zoology, dated) mammal of the now abandoned order Insectivora.


biofact

Ancient Greek βίος (bíos, “life”) + Latin arte factum (“something made with skill”).

uder

(archaeology) a biological artefact, not altered by human hands; e.g. a seed, or an uncarved wooden roof beam.


mantle

From Middle English mantel, from Old English mæntel, mentel (“sleeveless cloak”), from Proto-West Germanic *mantil; later reinforced by Anglo-Norman mantel, both from Latin mantēllum (“covering, cloak”), diminutive of mantum (French manteau, Spanish manto), probably from Gaulish *mantos, *mantalos (“trodden road”), from Proto-Celtic *mantos, *mantlos, from Proto-Indo-European *menH- (“tread, press together; crumble”). Compare Icelandic möttull. Doublet of manteau.

der

He grasps the female from slightly below about the mid-mantle region and positions himself so his arms are close to the opening of her mantle.

1990, Daniel L. Gilbert, William J. Adelman, John M. Arnold (editors), Squid as Experimental Animals, page 71

Molluscan bodies are broadly divided into two parts: a muscular foot and a shell-secreting mantle.

2017, Danna Staaf, Squid Empire, ForeEdge, →ISBN, page 8:

(malacology) The body wall of a mollusc, from which the shell is secreted.

(ornithology) The back of a bird together with the folded wings.


dendroarchaeology

(archaeology) the science that uses dendrochronology to date wooden material from archaeological sites


roseate

en-adj

roseate (comparative more roseate, superlative most roseate)

more roseate (comparative)
most roseate (superlative)

From Middle English roseat, from Anglo-Latin roseātus, equivalent to rose + -ate (“like, similar to”).

The countess took the roseate palm and snowy fingers of this lovely child.

1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter VII, in The Last Man. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC:

Now the rum, as has been said, was criminally overproof, and they had had no intoxicants for a long time. And so a couple of stiff drinks produced a beautiful and generous expansion of soul. The mean cabin became larger, the fire warmer and more cheerful, and life generally of a more roseate hue. They began to feel the prodigal Thanksgiving spirit, and to regret their limited opportunities for satisfying it.

1922, A. M. Chisholm, A Thousand a Plate:

On Professor Solanka’s street, well-heeled white youths lounged in baggy garments on roseate stoops, stylishly simulating indigence while they waited for the billionairedom that would surely be along sometime soon.

2001, Salman Rushdie, Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 4:

(formal, chiefly zoology) Like the rose flower; pink; rosy.


dendrochronology

(biology, archaeology) The science that uses the spacing between the annual growth rings of trees to date their exact year of formation.


anal fin

(ichthyology) A fin located on the underside of a fish behind the anus.


dorsal fin

A fin located on the backs of fish and some marine mammals.


pectoral fin

(ichthyology) Either of two fins located on each side of a fish just behind the head.


pelvic fin

(ichthyology) Either of a pair of fins on either side and towards the rear of a fish.


vexillum

Borrowed from Latin vēxillum (“flag, banner”).

(ornithology) The rhachis and web of a feather taken together.


caudal fin

The tailfin of a fish and other aquatic vertebrates.

ফিছা

the tailfin of a fish and other aquatic vertebrates


zoophagous

/zəʊˈɒfəɡəs/

/zuːˈɒfəɡəs/

A zoophagous insect.

My homicidal maniac is of a peculiar kind. I shall have to invent a new classification for him, and call him a zoöphagous (life-eating) maniac; what he desires is to absorb as many lives as he can, and he has laid himself out to achieve it in a cumulative way.

1897, Bram Stoker, chapter VI, in Dracula, New York: Grosset & Dunlap, page 67:


dabbling duck

One of the ducks of species in subfamily Anatinae, that feed by dabbling in shallow water, including mallards and teals.


diving duck

Coordinate term: dabbling duck

Any of the ducks that feed mainly by diving such as pochards and scaups, of species in tribe Aythyini.


inarticulate

From the substantivation of the above adjective through the associated taxon's name (Inarticulata). Used by contrast with Articulata.

(zoology, obsolete) An animal belonging to the subphylum Inarticulata.


bricoleur

From French bricoleur; apparently a borrowing from the work of French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss.

The engineer has science to guide him; the bricoleur has intuition. Significantly, while the bricoleur can only classify perceived differences, the engineer's scientific system enables him to classify things not yet seen.

2002, Sherene H. Razack, editor, Introduction: Race, Space, and the Law: Unmapping a White Settler Society, page 12:

The bricoleur’s awareness of constructivism and historicity helps her point out these omissions and their effects on the knowledge-production processes.
In this context critical hermeneutics facilitates bricoleurs’ attempts to identify socially oppressive forms of meaning-making and research processes.

2004, Joe L. Kincheloe, Kathleen S. Berry, Rigour and Complexity in Educational Research: Conceptualizing the bricolage, page 11:

Glassie was attracted to Claude Lévi-Strauss's metaphor of the artisan as bricoleur — someone who brings together materials that happen to be at hand and uses them to carry out the task of building what needs to be built.

2005, Sandra K. Dolby, Self-Help Books: Why Americans Keep Reading Them, page 85:

The bricoleur is a specialist in combinatorial logic, a craftsman who creates objects by rearranging other objects.

2007, Boris Wiseman, Levi-Strauss, Anthropology, and Aesthetics, Cambridge University Press, page 208:

Through playful exploration (rather than deductive/analytic reasoning) of what is possible, the bricoleur adjusts past solutions, reframes, or manipulates technical memories of past events and projects to make them bear upon or even redefine the problem at hand.[…]Rather than having been designed in advance with specific purposes in mind, the bricoleur’s instrumental resources are experiential leftovers that summarize his technical life journey.

2012, Jannis Kallinikos, “4: Form, Function, and Matter: Crossing the Border of Materiality”, in Paul M. Leonardi, Bonnie A. Nardi, Jannis Kallinikos, editors, Materiality and Organizing: Social Interaction in a Technological World, page 75:

We see in this picture what a potent political bricoleur he is, borrowing images and rhetoric from any source and combining them in new, lucid collages with changed meanings.

2024 July 15, Jonathan Jones, “‘Is this what a second Trump presidency will be like?’ – our art critic on the chilling shooting image”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(anthropology, art) A person who constructs bricolages; one who creates using whatever materials are available.


zygobranchiate

zygobranchiate (comparative more zygobranchiate, superlative most zygobranchiate)

more zygobranchiate (comparative)
most zygobranchiate (superlative)

(zoology) Of or pertaining to the Zygobranchia


zoönite

(zoology) Alternative spelling of zoonite


zoogeny

(zoology) The doctrine of the formation of living beings.


zoögeography

en-noun

zoögeography (usually uncountable, plural zoögeographies)

(zoology) Alternative spelling of zoogeography


zoanthodeme

From zoanthid + deme (“ecological population”).

compound

(zoology) The zooids of a compound anthozoan, collectively.


zooerythrine

(zoology) Alternative spelling of zooerythrin


zoëa

From New Latin zōaea, zōēa, from Ancient Greek ζωή (zōḗ, “life”) (compare ζῷον (zôion)).

(zoology) A larval stage of certain decapod crustaceans, especially of decapods such as crabs and certain Anomura, also called the copepod stage, characterized by spines on the carapace and rudimentary thoracic and abdominal limbs.


zoogamy

(zoology) The sexual reproduction of animals.


zygenid

(zoology) Any one of numerous species of moths of the family Zygaenidae, most of which are bright colored.


zygodactyl

(ornithology) Any bird with toes of this kind, such as the parrot.


zooid

From zoo- + -oid. Compare Ancient Greek ζῴδιον (zṓidion, “animal”).

cog

(zoology) An animal in one of its inferior or early stages of development, as one of the intermediate forms in alternate generation.

(zoology) One of the individual animals in a composite group, as of Anthozoa, Hydrozoa, and Bryozoa; — sometimes restricted to those individuals in which the mouth and digestive organs are not developed.


naiad

From Latin Naias, from Ancient Greek Νᾱϊάς (Nāïás, “naiad”), from νάω (náō, “to flow”).

(entomology) The aquatic larva (nymph) of a dragonfly or damselfly.


caudal

Borrowed from Latin caudālis (“having a tail”).

The male widow-bird, remarkable for his caudal plumes, […]

1871, Charles Darwin, “Principles of Sexual Selection”, in The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. […], volume I, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, Part II (Sexual Selection), page 269:

Dassoud […] stepped forward with a lash composed of the caudal appendages of half a dozen wildebeests.

1982, TC Boyle, Water Music, Penguin, published 2006, page 3:

(zoology) Pertaining to the tail or posterior or hind part of a body.


encampment

en-noun

encampment (countable and uncountable, plural encampments)

PIE word
 *h₁én
From encamp (“to establish a camp or temporary shelter”) + -ment (suffix forming nouns denoting actions or their results).

affix

(by extension, archaeology) An enclosed or fortified prehistoric site, especially a European Iron Age hill-fort.


merus

From Ancient Greek μηρός (mērós, “thigh”).

(zoology) The meropodite; the first segment of the raptorial appendage of a crustacean.


speculum

(ornithology) A bright, lustrous patch of colour found on the wings of ducks and some other birds, usually situated on the distal portions of the secondary quills, and much more brilliant in the adult male than in the female.


Samoyed

From Russian самое́д (samojéd), probably from Sami *saam-edne (“land of the people”); compare Finnish Suomi (“Finn”).
In the course of borrowing, the word was folk-etymologically reinterpreted as сам (sam, “self, own”) + есть, ед- (jestʹ, jed-, “eat”), "self-eater."

The Samoyeds are Idolaters and Witches, obſeruing diuelliſh ſuperſtitions

1613, Samuel Purchas, “[Asia.] Of other Northerne people adioyning to the Tartars.”, in Purchas His Pilgrimage. Or Relations of the World and the Religions Observed in All Ages and Places Discouered, from the Creation vnto this Present. […], London: […] William Stansby for Henrie Fetherstone, […], →OCLC, book IV (Of the Armenians, Medes, Persians, Parthians, Scythians, Tartarians, Chinois, and of Their Religions), page 363:

(anthropology) A member of the Samoyedic peoples of the Siberian Urals, who speak Samoyedic languages.

(endearing nicknames)

(zoology) A hardy breed of dog from Siberia.


fictive kin

en-noun

fictive kin (countable and uncountable, plural fictive kin or fictive kins)

fictive kin (plural)
fictive kins (plural)

Ebaugh (2000) described three types of fictive kin (family-type) relationships, based not on blood or marriage, but rather on religious rituals or close friendship ties, that constitutes a type of social capital which many immigrants bring with them that facilitates their adjustment to the host society. […] Fictive kin are shared widely in Spanish-speaking countries, Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean.

2005, John G. Bruhn, The Sociology of Community Connections, New York, N.Y.: Springer Science+Business Media, →ISBN, page 59:

Most studies indicate that Black family members live in proximity, in part an outcome of segregated communities. These close-knit communities helped to produce strong fictive kin relations with neighbors and fellow church members, which in turn provided support in the face of discrimination from the larger society.

2006, Roberta L. Coles, “African American Families”, in Race & Family: A Structural Approach, Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications, →ISBN, page 166:

In the socialist era […] [t]he custom of making fictive kin became less popular or went underground. Since the late 1970s, however, the custom has revived in Nanying. While many features of fictive kin relationships remain the same, the motive for establishing the relationship has changed. Most commonly, people attempt to improve household status through the establishment of fictive kin links.

2007, Xiyi Huang, “Network of Social Relationships in Resource Distribution”, in Power, Entitlement and Social Practice: Resource Distribution in North China Villages, Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, →ISBN, page 143:

Attaining fictive kin status requires that a person have prolonged physical proximity to a family member in order to develop a relationship that is both interdependent and mutually beneficial. Persons generally obtain fictive kin status by consistently contributing to the emotional or material needs of an individual over time.

2011, Constance Dallas, “Fictive Kin Relationships”, in Martha Craft-Rosenberg, Shelley-Rae Pehler, editors, Encyclopedia of Family Health, volume 1, Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications, →ISBN:

(anthropology, ethnography) Someone who, though unrelated by birth or marriage, has such a close emotional relationship with another that they may be considered part of the family.


polyp

From Latin polypus (“a polyp, a polypus in the nose”), from Ancient Greek πολύπους (polúpous, from πολύς (polús, “many”) + πούς (poús, “foot”)). Doublet of polypus.

der

(zoology) A cylindrical coelenterate, such as the hydra, having a mouth surrounded with tentacles.

The sessile life stage of many cnidarians, whose free-swimming stage, if present, is the medusa.


philopatry

(ethology) The tendency of an animal to return to, or stay in, its home area or birthplace.


nomadic

en-adj

nomadic (comparative more nomadic, superlative most nomadic)

more nomadic (comparative)
most nomadic (superlative)

From Ancient Greek νομαδικός (nomadikós), equivalent to nomad (“a member of a society or class of herdsmen”) + -ic (forming adjectives).

(anthropology) Of or related to itinerant herdsmen.

Of or relating to nomads.
Of or related to itinerant herdsmen.


pyknic

From Ancient Greek πυκνός (puknós, “thick”) + -ic, as a calque of German pyknisch.

af

(anthropology) A short, thickset person characterised by thick neck, large abdomen and relatively short limbs; an endomorph.


juvenile

Borrowed from Latin iuvenīlis (“youthful; juvenile”), from iuvenis (“young; a youth”) + -īlis (suffix forming adjectives indicating a relationship or a pertaining to). Iuvenis is ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂yuh₁en- (“young”), from *h₂óyu (“long life; lifetime”) (from *h₂ey- (“age; life”)) + *h₁én (“in”).

Even if juveniles acquire sex-specific adult-like foraging skills before reaching adult size, their smaller body size may put them at a foraging disadvantage. […] The size effect on foraging is reduced in species that use small or easily manipulated substrates. For instance, in Costa Rican squirrel monkeys, juveniles apparently mastered techniques for insect foraging only a few months after weaning, when they were still much smaller than adults[…].

2002, Charles H. Janson, Carel P[hilippus] Van Schaik, “Ecological Risk Aversion in Juvenile Primates: Slow and Steady Wins the Race”, in Michael E. Pereira, Lynn A. Fairbanks, editors, Juvenile Primates: Life History, Development, and Behavior, Chicago, Ill., London: University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 65, column 1:


paleoanthropologist

A scientist who specializes in paleoanthropology.


paleoanthropology

(anthropology) The scientific study of ancient human remains.


wood grouse

en-noun

wood grouse (plural wood grouses or wood grouse)

wood grouses (plural)
wood grouse (plural)

Tetrao urogallus
Tetrao urogallus#Translingual

(ornithology) The capercaillie, Tetrao urogallus.


archeology

archeology (usually uncountable, plural archeologies)

From Middle French archéologie, from Ancient Greek ἀρχαιολογία (arkhaiología, “antiquarian lore, ancient legends, history”), from ἀρχαῖος (arkhaîos, “primal, old, ancient”) + λόγος (lógos, “speech, oration, study”). By surface analysis, archeo- + -logy, but not coined in that way.

der

By the end of the century, the APS’s membership included the leaders of the American anthropological establishment, whose primary investigative interests were the ethnography, linguistics, archeology, and physical anthropology of the American Indian, within a theoretical structure that was essentially historical.

1997, Jacob W. Gruber, “American Philosophical Society”, in History of Physical Anthropology, page 64:

(American spelling) Alternative spelling of archaeology


imago

en-noun

imago (plural imagines or imagos or imagoes)

imagines (plural)
imagos (plural)
imagoes (plural)

‘But still,’ he said to himself, drawing the metamorphoses of a red admiral, egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and imago on his pad, ‘what shall I say to him when we meet?’

(entomology) The final developmental stage of an insect after undergoing metamorphosis.


merman

From Middle English mereman, from Old English *meremann (“merman”) (suggested by Old English meremenn, meremennen, meremenin (“mermaid, siren”)), equivalent to mer- + man. Cognate with Dutch meerman (“merman”), German Meermann (“merman”).

The meer man hath no feet but fins / And this hath legs you see and shins.

1653, The Loves of Hero and Leander: A Mock Poem, London, page 19:

A legendary creature, human male from the waist up, fishlike from the waist down.


coelenterate

(zoology, dated) Any simple aquatic animal formerly considered to belong to the phylum Coelenterata, now divided into the cnidarians and ctenophores.

腔腸動物

member of the former phylum Coelenterata


clanger

From clang (“loud ringing sound”) + -er.

(Australia, entomology) A cicada, Psaltoda claripennis, of New South Wales and Queensland, having an upper body of green and brown and clear wings with green veins.


metazoan

monisoluinen eläin

(zoology) animals with differentiated tissues

(zoology) Any animal that is multicellular.

(zoology, deprecated) Any animal that undergoes development from an embryo stage with two or three tissue layers, namely the ectoderm, endoderm, and sometimes mesoderm.


podex

Ligament which stretches over the surface of the uterus, running obliquely from the podex to the raceme.

1942, Fabricius (ab Aquapendente), Howard Bernhardt Adelmann (translator), The Embryological Treatises of Hieronymus Fabricius of Aquapendente (page 229)

(zoology, rare) The rear end of any animal.


culture shock

culture shock (countable and uncountable, plural culture shocks)

Having grown up in rural Arkansas, I experienced tremendous culture shock on moving to Harlem.

I went through another, reverse culture shock when I got back to Israel and the efort ^([sic]) required to change from cherished and catered-to visitor to an ordinary working woman kept me away from my typewriter jor ^([sic]) months.

1982 December 4, Ilana Weinstock, “Letters From My Aunt”, in Gay Community News, volume 10, number 20, page 4:

(anthropology, sociology) A state of anxious confusion experienced by someone exposed to an alien or unfamiliar environment.


stele

From Ancient Greek στήλη (stḗlē, “upright rock; pillar; column”), plural form στῆλαι (stêlai). Doublet of stela.

uder

A superior class of members...had their names inscribed upon a marble stélé or column.

1820, T. S. Hughes, Trav. Sicily, I x 303:

It appears, that when any one of the family died, a stelè to his memory was added to the tomb.

1825, T. D. Fosbroke, Encycl. Antiq., I v 70:

In Egypt [obelisks] belonged to the class of steles (commemorative pillars).

1847, C. O. Müller, translated by J. Leitch, Anc. Art, §224 193:

The Australian stele, or grave-pillar.

1884, A. Lang, Custom & Myth, section 285:

(archaeology) An upright (or formerly upright) slab containing engraved or painted decorations or inscriptions; a stela.

Two large hieroglyphed steles incised upon the face of a projecting mass of boldly rounded cliff.

1877, A. B. Edwards, Thousand Miles up Nile, VI 143:

(archaeology, uncommon) Any carved or engraved surface.

لَوْحَة تِذْكَارِيَّة

(archaeology) tall, slender stone monument

Stele. The ornaments on the ridge of a Greek temple, answering to the antefixæ on the summit of the flank entablatures, are thus designated.

c. 1840, Hosking, "Architecture" in Encyclopædia Britannica, III 470

(architecture, archaeology, obsolete) An acroterion, the decoration on the ridge of an ancient Greek building such as a temple.


nomad

From Middle French nomade, from Latin Nomas (“wandering shepherd”), from Ancient Greek νομάς (nomás, “roaming, wandering, esp. to find pasture”), from Ancient Greek νομός (nomós, “pasture”). Compare Numidia.

der

The life of the people called the Nomads or Grazyers...

1587, Philippe de Mornay, translated by Philip Sidney et al., A Woorke Concerning the Trewnesse of the Christian Religion, viii, p. 113:

Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.

2013 August, Henry Petroski, “Geothermal Energy”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4:

(anthropology) A member of a society or class who herd animals from pasture to pasture with no fixed home.

بَدَوِيّ

a member of society or class who wander with their herds


anthropomorphize

en-verb

anthropomorphize (third-person singular simple present anthropomorphizes, present participle anthropomorphizing, simple past and past participle anthropomorphized)

anthropomorphizes (present singular third-person)
anthropomorphizing (participle present)
anthropomorphized (participle past)
anthropomorphized (past)

/ˌanθɹəpəˈmɔːfʌɪz/

By surface analysis, anthropo- + morph + -ize.

surf

(transitive) To endow with human qualities.


tom-tit

From the common given name Tom and tit, as in titmouse.

(ornithology) Petroica macrocephala, the miromiro or New Zealand tit, a bird of the Petroicidae (Australasian robin) family.


pleural

(zoology) An internal segment of the turtle carapace.


alpha male

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-alpha male.wav

The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists

Originally used in scientific research of hierarchies in social animals, the term is now often applied to men with dominating characteristics. Already in some use during the 1990s, it was further popularized by Neil Strauss in The Game (2005).

(zoology, ethology) The dominant male in a group of animals.


hydro-

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-hydro-.wav

From Ancient Greek ὑδρο- (hudro-), from ὕδωρ (húdōr, “water”).


coelom

From international scientific vocabulary, from New Latin, from Ancient Greek κοίλωμα (koílōma, “hollow, cavity”). Cognate with coeliac.

uder

digestive system
digestive system#English

(zoology) A fluid-filled cavity within the body of an animal. The digestive system is suspended within the cavity, which is lined by a tissue called the peritoneum.


coelomate

From the substantivation of the adjective, equivalent to coelom + -ate (noun-forming suffix).

(zoology) Any animal possessing a fluid-filled cavity within which the digestive system is suspended.


coelomate

From coelom + -ate (adjective-forming suffix).


acnestis

From Late Latin acnestis, from Koine Greek ἄκνηστις (áknēstis, “spine”), from κνῆστις (knêstis, “spine, cheese-grater”), or from ἀ- (a-) + -κναίειν (-knaíein, “grate, scrape, scratch”) (only attested in compounds), or from incorrect segmentation of κατὰ κνῆστιν (katà knêstin, “on the spine”) (see Homer, Odyssey 10.161), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kneh₂-.

der

Acneſtis, from α priv. and κναειν to ſcratch. That part of the ſpine of the back, which reaches from the metaphrenon, which is the part betwixt the ſhoulder blades, to the loins. This part ſeems to have been originally called ſo in quadrupeds only, becauſe they cannot reach it to ſcratch.

1794, John Quincy, Lexicon Physico-medicum: Or, a New Medicinal Dictionary. Explaining the Difficult Terms Used in the Several Branches of the Profession. And in such Parts of Natural Philosophy, as are Introductory thereto. With an Account of the Things Signified by such Terms. Collected from the most Eminent Authors, 11th edition, London: Printed for T[homas] Longman, in Pater-noster Row, →OCLC, pages 16–17:

ACNÉSTIS (ακνηςις, from α neg. and κναω to ſcratch). That part of the ſpine between the ſhoulder-blades, and which extends to the loins. It is ſo called from the difficulty there is to reach and ſcratch it.

1802, W[illiam] Turton, A Medical Glossary: In which the Words in the Various Branches of Medicine are Deduced from their Original Languages; Properly Accented and Explained, 2nd edition, London: Printed by J. D. Dewick, Aldersgate Street, for Lackington, Allen, and Co. Temple of the Muses, Finsbury Square, →OCLC, page 11:

That spot known to crossword solvers as the acnestis.

Excoriations are typically linear and occur where the patient can reach with his hands. […] The middle of the back is typically spared, although with a back scratcher, this rule loses value. This pattern of sparing has been called the reverse butterfly sign; the Greek word for the area that cannot be reached is acnestis.

2000, Otto Braun-Falco with Gerd Plewig, Helmut H. Woolf, and Walter H. C. Burgdorf, Dermatology, 2nd completely rev. edition, Berlin: Springer-Verlag, →ISBN, page 991:

In what has to be the longest post-election season in living memory, the last five months have felt like an acnestis upon our collective soul; like that little patch of skin on our backs that we just can't reach to scratch ourselves. It's irritating. It's annoying. It's left us reaching and spinning around in circles.

2008 August 5, New Straits Times, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia:

I nudged Winston [a cat] to one side of his chair and sat down beside him. I scratched the spot between his shoulders, the acnestis that animals can't scratch by themselves, and he looked up at me and smiled.

2010, Blaize Clement, Raining Cat Sitters and Dogs: A Dixie Hemingway Mystery, New York, N.Y.: Thomas Dunne Books, →ISBN, page 24:

Acnestis (n.) On an animal, the point of the back that lies between the shoulders and the lower back, which cannot be reached to be scratched. I am very glad I found this word early in my reading of the OED – the fact that there existed a word for this thing which previously I had been sure lacked a name was such a delight to me that suddenly the whole idea of reading the dictionary seemed utterly reasonable.

2010, Ammon Shea, Satisdiction: One Man's Journey into all the Words He'll Ever Need, London: Penguin Books, →ISBN:

(zoology) The section of an animal's skin that it cannot reach in order to scratch itself, usually the space between the shoulder blades.


cœlomate

(zoology) A group of animals possessing a fluid-filled cavity within which the digestive system is suspended.


archaeological

en-adj

archaeological (comparative more archaeological, superlative most archaeological)

more archaeological (comparative)
most archaeological (superlative)

A living floor is, in archaeological terms, the floor of a cave upon which people lived and which retains evidence of their activities.

2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 202:

Relating to the science or research of archaeology.

arkeologjik

relating to the science or research of archaeology


pothole

From dialectal pot (“pit, hollow, cavity”) + hole. The "cave" senses, attested since at least 1809 (as pot-hole), may be from Middle English pot, potte (“a deep hole for a mine, or from peat-digging”), of uncertain origin; perhaps related to English pit, pote, or pot. Compare Scots pott, patt (“a pit dug in the ground; coalpit”).

(archaeology) A pit resulting from unauthorized excavation by treasure-hunters or vandals.

kuoppa

hole in a burial mound resulting from unauthorized excavators


siphon

From Middle French siphon, from Old French sifon, from Latin sipho, from Ancient Greek σίφων (síphōn, “pipe, tube”), of uncertain origin; possibly related to Latin tibia (“pipe, flute of bone”), with the irregular forms suggesting a non-Indo-European loan source, perhaps of the shape *twi-, *twibh.

der

As a result, although corbinas commonly utilize mollusks, they are limited to the siphons, foot, or other soft parts that either extend from the shell or can be picked from it.

1962, Fish Bulletin, numbers 118-130, Department of Fish and Game, page 48:

(zoology) A tubelike organ found in animals or elongated cell found in plants.


fusiform

en-adj

fusiform (comparative more fusiform, superlative most fusiform)

more fusiform (comparative)
most fusiform (superlative)

Fusobacteria are fusiform bacilli (spindled rods).

Acorns come in spherical and fusiform varieties.

(chiefly botany, zoology) Shaped like a spindle with yarn spun on it; having round or roundish cross-section and tapering at each end.


cryptid

From crypt + -id. English usage 1983; coined by John E. Wall in the ISC Newsletter.

Now comes perhaps the cleverest tag of all: cryptozoology. It refers to the search for new animals, animals dwelling in unexpected places, and most importantly for "X-Files" scriptwriters, "cryptids"—legendary creatures such as the yeti.

1999 August 16, Steve Burgess, “Loren Coleman, Loch Ness snowman of cryptozoology”, in salon.com:

(cryptozoology) A creature known only from folklore or legend, the existence of which is not proven by scientific observation.


helminthology

(zoology) The branch of zoology related to the study of helminths (parasitic worms).

helmintologia

branch of zoology related to study of helminths


medusa

en-noun

medusa (plural medusas or medusae or medusæ)

medusas (plural)
medusae (plural)
medusæ (plural)

Typically, what we think of as the jellyfish, the medusa, reproduces sexually, spawning sperm and eggs which, once fertilised, turn into sea anemone-like polyps, which attach themselves to the jellyfish’s bottom or other surfaces.

2014, Theo Tait, ‘Water-Borne Zombies’, London Review of Books, volume 36, number 5:

(zoology) A jellyfish; specifically, a non-polyp form of individual cnidarians, consisting of a gelatinous umbrella-shaped bell and trailing tentacles.


costal

From French costal, from Medieval Latin costālis, from Latin costa (“rib”). As a Spanish unit, via Spanish costal. Doublet of coastal.

(entomology) Pertaining to the costa or to the wing areas next to it.


scapular

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-scapular.wav

From Latin scapulāre, from Latin scapula (“shoulder”). Compare scapulary.

(ornithology) One of a special group of feathers which arise from each of the scapular regions and lie along the sides of the back.


pecker

From Middle English pekker, equivalent to peck (“to pick at something in the manner of a bird”) + -er (“forming agent nouns”).

af

The Titmouse, and the Peckers hungry Brood.

1697, Publius Virgilius Maro, translated by John Dryden, Georgics, section IV:

By far the greater number of modern birds belong to the... orders of the perchers, the peckers, and the birds of prey.

1884 January, George Allen, Longman's Magazine, page 294:

Someone who or something that pecks, striking or piercing in the manner of a bird's beak or bill, particularly:

(zoology) A bird, particularly a member of the group including the woodpeckers, flowerpeckers, oxpeckers, and berrypeckers.

The pecker was esteemed a sacred and divine bird.

1883, Jacob Grimm, translated by J.S. Stallybrass, Teutonic Mythology, volume III, page 973:

I've been feeding several downy ’peckers from my short-perched tubes for years.

(zoology, usually colloquial or US regional) Clipping of woodpecker (Picidae).


operculum

Hyoliths […] have a small, conical calcium carbonate shell, with a lid called an operculum.

2017 January 18, Susannah Lydon, The Guardian:

(zoology) A covering flap in animals, such as a gill cover.


pot boiler

The figurative sense comes from the notion that the writer's or artist's output is enough to provide sustenance; compare breadwinner, put food on the table, and keep the lights on.

(archaeology) A stone used to transfer heat from a fire into a vessel of water, so as to heat the contents.


turbo

From the New Latin name of the genus Turbo.


conjoin

/kənˈd͡ʒɔɪn/

From Old French conjoindre, from Latin coniungo, from con- (“together”) + iungo (“join”). Equivalent to con- + join.

Attention must also be given to understanding why certain sites yield a low number of conjoins.

1984, Ellen M. Kroll, Glynn Ll. Isaac, “Configurations of artifacts and bones at early Pleistocene sites in East Africa”, in Harold Hietala, editor, Intrasite Spatial Analysis in Archaeology, →ISBN, page 23:

(archaeology) A reassembled bone, stone or ceramic artifact.


midden

From Middle English midding, myddyng, from Old Danish mykdyngja, (a compound of Old Norse myk, myki (“muck, manure”) and dyngja (“dung, dungpile”)), whence also Danish møgdynge and mødding, Norwegian mødding, dialectal Swedish mödding.

(archaeology) An accumulation, deposit, or soil derived from occupation debris, rubbish, or other by-products of human activity, such as bone, shell, ash, or decayed organic materials; or a pile or mound of such materials, often prehistoric.

køkkenmødding

archeology: prehistoric pile of bones and shells

(zoology) A shelter made of vegetation and other materials by packrats.

(zoology) An accumulation of dried urine and fecal deposits made by hyraxes.


sylph

First attested in 1657. From New Latin sylphes, coined by Paracelsus in the 16th century. The coinage may derive from Latin sylvestris (“of the woods”) and nympha (“nymph”). Ultimately from the root silva (“woods, forest”). Related to sylvan.
More at Wikipedia.

(ornithology) Any of the mainly dark green and blue hummingbirds (genus Aglaiocercus), the male of which has a long forked tail.


loveliness

en-noun

loveliness (countable and uncountable, plural lovelinesses)

From Middle English luflynes; equivalent to lovely + -ness.

'A loveliness of ladybirds,' whispers Roisin to her sleeping child, and looks at her husband proudly. He grins back. 'Aye, the plague of last summer. Couldn't pick up a glass of lemonade without finding a hundred ladybirds using it as a bubble-bath.'

2016, David Mark, Dead Pretty, Hachette UK, page 10

A loveliness of ladybugs is enjoying lunch - little aphids that pepper a crop of soybeans.

2018, Natalie Rompella, The World Never Sleeps, Tilbury House, p18

Sparks of sunlight caught on a loveliness of ladybirds that had floated into the waiting room through an open door.

2019, Jayne Fresina, A Loveliness of Ladybirds, Twisted-E Publishing LLC, page 71

(zoology, collective) A group of ladybirds.


intercalary

From Latin intercalārius, from intercalāris, from intercalō, from inter (“among”) + calō (“call out, proclaim”).

...two radial cells, second longer than first; intercalary fork fairly distinct; crossvein r-m vertical...

1953, Willis W. Wirth, “American Biting Midges of the Helid Genus Monohelea”, in Proceedings of the United States National Museum, volume 103, number 3320, pages 135–154:

(sciences, by extension) Inserted between other things

(entomology) of a wing vein: between the major veins common to insect wings.


gonys

Borrowed from Ancient Greek γένυς (génus, “jaw”).

bor+

the lower ridge of the lower mandible of a bird's beak, located at the junction of the bone's two rami (lateral plates)


lepidopterology

From Ancient Greek λεπίς (lepís, “scale”) + πτερόν (pterón, “wing”) + -λογία (-logía, “-logy, branch of study”), or, more recently, from translingual Lepidoptera + -ology.

(biology, zoology, entomology) The scientific study of butterflies and moths (the Lepidoptera).


maculation

Females [of the species Speyeria nokomis] are cream above with heavy black maculation accompanied by much dark suffusion.

1975, William H. Howe, editor, The Butterflies of North America, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, page 217:

1990, Mason E. Hale, A Synopsis of the Lichen Genus Xanthoparmelia (Vainio) Hale (Ascomycotina, Parmeliaceae), Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, p. 195,
[This lichen] species […] is recognized by […] more or less distinct maculation on the upper surface, and pale brown lower surface.

(zoology, botany, chiefly uncountable) A pattern of spots.


maculose

en-adj

maculose (comparative more maculose, superlative most maculose)

more maculose (comparative)
most maculose (superlative)

(geology, zoology) Having spots on the surface; spotted


madreporite

/ˌmædɹəˈpɔɹaɪt/

From madrepore + -ite; the echinoderm sense is in reference to how it resembles the coral.

water vascular system
water vascular system

(zoology) A calcareous opening in the body of echinoderms which connects the water vascular system to the environment.


replicate

replicate (comparative more replicate, superlative most replicate)

more replicate (comparative)
most replicate (superlative)

/ˈɹɛpləˌkət/

From Latin replicātus, past participle of replicāre (“to fold or bend back; reply”), from re (“back”) + plicāre (“to fold”); see ply. Doublet of reply and replica.

a replicate leaf or petal

the replicate margin of a shell

(botany, zoology) Folded over or backward; folded back upon itself.


cnidarian

/nɪˈdɛː.ɹɪ.ən/

/nʌɪˈdɛː.ɹɪ.ən/

A general feature of cnidarians, as I noted above, is their stinging cells.

2016, Peter Godfrey-Smith, Other Minds, William Collins, published 2018, page 35:

(zoology) Any of various invertebrate animals, such as jellyfish, hydras, sea anemones, corals and formerly sponges and ctenophores that belong to the phylum Cnidaria.

cnidario

any of various invertebrate animals that belong to the phylum Cnidaria


incumbent

incumbent (comparative more incumbent, superlative most incumbent)

more incumbent (comparative)
most incumbent (superlative)

From Latin incumbentem + English -ent (suffix denoting the causing, doing, or promoting of an action). Incumbentem is the accusative singular of incumbēns (“reclining”), the present active participle of incumbō (“to lay upon, to lean or recline on; to fall upon, to press down on”), from in- (prefix meaning ‘against; into; on, upon’) + *cumbō (“to lie down, recline”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱewb-).

rusten op

the incumbent toe of a bird

Chiefly followed by on or upon: leaning, or lying, reclining, or resting, on something else.

(zoology) Of a body part such as a hair, spine, or wing: bent downwards or otherwise positioned so that it, or part of it, rests on or touches something else; specifically (ornithology), of the hind toe of a bird: fully resting on a support.

rusten op

of a body part: bent downwards or otherwise positioned so that it, or part of it, rests on or touches something else; of the hind toe of a bird: fully resting on a support


columbarium

en-noun

columbarium (plural columbariums or columbaria)

columbariums (plural)
columbaria (plural)

Borrowed from Latin columbārium, from columba (“pigeon”) + -ārium (“place for”).

af

Their sides present the well-known appearance of the Roman columbaria (dove-cotes), but with the important difference, that they are adapted to contain coffins instead of urns, the holes being about 2 feet square and 6 feet deep.

1885, Philip Smith, History of the World from the Creation to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, volume 2:

Doves were culticly protected; great towers were built for them in which they could nest; they were called columbaria (columba is the Latin word for dove).

1979, Leonard Swidler, Biblical Affirmations of Woman, page 61:

Fish ponds were stocked with netted fish during the summer as a source of protein and dove cotes, or as the Romans called them, 'columbariums', were another.

2008, Stanley Graham, Barnoldswich, page 34:

(historical) A large, sometimes architecturally impressive building for housing a large colony of pigeons or doves, particularly those of ancien regime France.

colomar

a building for housing a large colony of pigeons or doves


zygodactylous

/ˌzeɪɡəʊˈdæktələs/

From zygo- + Ancient Greek δάκτυλος (dáktulos, “finger”).

der

(ornithology) Having two toes pointing forward, and two toes pointing backward.


elytron

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ἔλυτρον (élutron, “sheath”).

lbor

In a corner, the Darkling Beetle rustles in its Cage, its Elytra the same unforgiving white as the great sand-waste call’d ‘Kalahari’ lying north of here […]

1997, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 9, in Mason & Dixon, 1st US edition, New York: Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN, part One: Latitudes and Departures, page 88:

[…] the elytra covering the hind wings of the firefly lift like a light leather, suppler than any other beetle’s.

2020, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments, Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions, →ISBN, page 9:

A sheath or outer covering, especially around the spinal cord or over the hindwings of certain insects.


kist

Possibly borrowed from Old Norse kista (“chest”); but see also English cist (“crypt”).

The global library of ice has become a cracked kist, a broken storehouse leaking its contents.

2020, David Farrier, “The Library of Babel”, in Footprints, 4th Estate, →ISBN:

(archaeology) Alternative form of cist (“crypt”)


survival

en-noun

survival (countable and uncountable, plural survivals)

Thus, if some old rhyme or saying has in one place a solemn import in philosophy or religion, while elsewhere it lies at the level of the nursery, there is some ground for treating the serious version as the more original, and the playful one as its mere lingering survival.

1871, Edward Burnett Tylor, Primitive culture: researches into the development of mythology, philosophy, religion, language, art, and custom^([IA]), Volume 1, chapter 3: "Survival in culture", page 78:

Another survival of marriage by capture is discovered among the Ceylonese, where it is common at royal marriages for the king and queen to throw perfumed balls and squirt scented water at each other.

1894, James William Black, “Savagery and survivals”, in Popular Science Monthly, volume 45, page 391:

The banded ones were all dressed in white gowns — a gay survival from Old Style days, when cheerfulness and May-time were synonyms — days before the habit of taking long views had reduced emotions to a monotonous average.

1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Phase the First: The Maiden, chapter 2:

(anthropology) A custom or belief that persists in folklore from earlier times, when the rationale behind it is forgotten.


graminivorous

en-adj

graminivorous (comparative more graminivorous, superlative most graminivorous)

more graminivorous (comparative)
most graminivorous (superlative)

/ɡɹæmɪˈnɪvəɹəs/

From Latin graminivorus, from gramen (“grass”) + -vorus.

“Bitzer,” said Thomas Gradgrind. “Your definition of a horse.” / “Quadruped. Graminivorous. Forty teeth; namely, twenty-four grinders, four eye-teeth, and twelve incisive. Sheds coat in the Spring; in marshy countries, sheds hoofs, too. Hoofs hard, but requiring to be shod with iron. Age known by marks in mouth.” Thus (and much more) Bitzer.

1854, Charles Dickens, “(please specify the chapter name)”, in Hard Times. For These Times, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], →OCLC:

If woman had a free hand in the world's marketing the race would become graminivorous.

1906, Ambrose Bierce, “Abdomen”, in The Cynic’s Word Book, London: Arthur F. Bird […], →OCLC, page 4:

(entomology) That eats grasses and seeds.


languet

From Old French languete (modern French languette), diminutive of langue (“tongue”), from Latin lingua.

(zoology) A tongue-like organ found on certain tunicates.


nates

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-nates.wav

(zoology) The umbones of a bivalve shell.


menhir

PIE word
 *méǵh₂s
Either borrowed from French menhir, or from its etymon Breton maen-hir (literally “long stone”), from maen (“stone”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s (“big, great”)) + hir (“long”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *seh₁- (“long; lasting”)). Cognate with Cornish mênhere, Welsh maen hir.

der

Near-synonym: orthostat

[N]o time has passed since we lived in caves, grappled with fish at the reedy shore, buried our dead with a song, with red-ochre and pulled up our dolmens, temples and menhirs and standing stones to the glory of some indeterminate god or gods, […]

1963, Thomas Pynchon, “Confessions of Fausto Maijstral”, in V.: […], Philadelphia, Pa., New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC, pages 310–311:

On the coast tree ferns and pandanus palms. Inland termite menhirs seventeen feet high.

1980, Anthony Burgess, chapter 39, in Earthly Powers, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, London: Penguin Books, published 1981, →ISBN, page 280:

(archaeology) A single tall standing stone as a monument, especially one dating to prehistoric times.


dimerous

From di- + -merous; compare also Ancient Greek διμερής (dimerḗs, “bipartite”).


trimerous

From tri- + -merous; ultimately from tri-, from Ancient Greek τρία (tría, “three”); + Ancient Greek μέρος (méros, “part”).


monoculture

en-noun

monoculture (countable and uncountable, plural monocultures)

/ˈmɒnəˌkʌlt͡ʃə(ɹ)/

It also isn’t going to be broadcast on TV networks that yearn to re-create the previous century’s monoculture. Our attention spans and tastes keep fracturing, and the ratings for late-night comedy keep declining.

2023 September 27, Spencer Kornhaber, “The Weirdos Living Inside Our Phones”, in The Atlantic:

(anthropology) A culture or society that lacks diversity; a society marked by monoculturalism.


domestic cat

Felis silvestris catus
Felis silvestris catus#Translingual

(zoology) A domesticated cat, of the species Felis catus or Felis silvestris catus, especially one kept as a pet or for vermin control.


tailed

From Middle English tayled; equivalent to tail + -ed.

nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs

(entomology) Of certain butterflies, having one or more filamentous projections on the tornal section of each hind wing.


pallium

Borrowed from Latin pallium (“a cloak”). Doublet of pall.


pecking order

(zoology) The natural hierarchy of social status and dominance occurring in a group of birds.


nestle

en-verb

nestle (third-person singular simple present nestles, present participle nestling, simple past and past participle nestled)

nestles (present singular third-person)
nestling (participle present)
nestled (participle past)
nestled (past)

From Middle English nestelen, nestlen, from Old English nistlan, nestlian, nistlian (“to make or build a nest”), from Proto-West Germanic *nistilōn (“to build or occupy a nest; nestle”), equivalent to nest + -le. Cognate with Middle Low German nëstelen (“to build a nest”), Dutch nestelen (“to nest, nestle”).

cog

The kingfisher […] nestles in hollow banks.

1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC:

(archaic, ornithology, intransitive) To build or sit upon a nest.

This assimilates them more nearly to the natural conditions when the hen nestles her chicks on the earth, whilst the warmth is given chiefly over their backs.

1871, Gardeners Chronicle & New Horticulturist, volume 31, page 123:

(archaic, ornithology, transitive) Of a bird: to look after its young.


zoological name

en-noun

zoological name (plural zoological names)

(zoology) a formal scientific name of an animal, especially as conforming to the ICZN.


ringing

ringing (countable and uncountable, plural ringings)

A technique used in the study of wild birds, by attaching a small, individually numbered, metal or plastic tag to their legs or wings.


ringing

en-adj

ringing (comparative more ringing, superlative most ringing)

more ringing (comparative)
most ringing (superlative)


monobasic

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-monobasic.wav

(zoology) Having only one subordinate taxon; monotypic.


odonatology

(entomology) The study of dragonflies and often damselflies.


myrmecology

/ˌmɜː(ɹ)mɪˈkɒləd͡ʒi/

From Ancient Greek myrmeco- (“ant”) + -logy (“study (of)”).


frenulum

Borrowed from New Latin frēnulum, diminutive of frēnum (“a bridle, curb, bit”).

(entomology, zootomy) A bristle or row of bristles on the edge of the hindwings of some lepidoptera which unites the wings by interlocking with a catch on the posterior part of the forewings.


trimorphic

/ˌtɹaɪˈmɔɹfɪk/

(zoology) Having three different forms with a clear attribute amongst three animals of the same species.


typology

en-noun

typology (countable and uncountable, plural typologies)

(archaeology) The result of the classification of things according to their characteristics.


timpanum

(zoology) An external hearing organ in some insects.


tymbal

(entomology) One of a pair of specialised sound-producing structures located below each side of the anterior abdominal region of various species of cicada.


armarium

Unadapted borrowing from Latin armārium. Doublet of ambry, armoire, and almirah.

The proventriculus of both the Blattaria and Isoptera conforms to the basic orthopteran plan and consists of an anterior armarium and the posterior stomodaeal valve; the armarium tapers posteriorly as it merges with the narrow valve.

1963, Memoir - Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station, Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station, →OCLC:

The proventriculi of both Arenivaga bolliana and Hypercomps fieberi appear to lack the anterior dental belt of the armarium; otherwise, they are dissimilar.

1964, F. A. McKittrick, Evolutionary Studies of Cockroaches, page 78:

The sclerotized portion of the proventriculus (armarium) has six cuticular folds each armed with a tooth for crushing food and a pulvillus bearing hairs which forms a fine filter.

1975, Lucy D. Leake, Comparative Histology: An Introduction to the Microscopic Structure of Animals:

Anteriorly it bears an armarium and posteriosly^([sic]) a stomodaeal valve.

1991, H.S. Bhamrah, Introduction to Arthropoda, page 169:


tympanum

Borrowed from Latin tympanum (“a drum, timbrel, tambourine; the eardrum”). Doublet of timbre and timpani.

قَلْب القَوْصَرَة

triangular space between the sides of a pediment

(anatomy, zootomy) Any of various anatomic structures in various animals with analogy to a drum head:

(zootomy, entomology) A thin tense membrane covering the hearing organ on the leg or body of some insects, sometimes adapted (as in cicadas) for producing sound.


ethnography

en-noun

ethnography (countable and uncountable, plural ethnographies)

/ɛθˈnɑɡɹəfi/

/ɛθˈnɒɡɹəfi/

Holonym: anthropology

By the end of the century, the APS’s membership included the leaders of the American anthropological establishment, whose primary investigative interests were the ethnography, linguistics, archeology, and physical anthropology of the American Indian, within a theoretical structure that was essentially historical.

1997, Jacob W. Gruber, “American Philosophical Society”, in History of Physical Anthropology, page 64:

(anthropology) The branch of anthropology that scientifically describes specific human cultures and societies.


nematode

Derived from Ancient Greek νηματώδης (nēmatṓdēs, “fibrous, in filaments”), from νῆμα (nêma, “thread, yarn”) + -ώδης (-ṓdēs, “-like”).

af

Nematodes are free-living, soil-dwelling microscopic worms.

2020, Brandon Taylor, Real Life, Daunt Books Originals, page 7:

(zoology) A worm of the large phylum Nematoda, such as a roundworm or threadworm.


radiolitid

(zoology) Any extinct bivalve in the family Radiolitidae.


retract

en-verb

retract (third-person singular simple present retracts, present participle retracting, simple past and past participle retracted)

retracts (present singular third-person)
retracting (participle present)
retracted (participle past)
retracted (past)

From Late Middle English retracten, retract (“to absorb, draw in”), from Latin retractus (“withdrawn”), the perfect passive participle of Latin retrahō (“to draw or pull back, withdraw; to bring back; to compel to turn back; to recall; to get back, recover; to hold back, restrain, withhold; to remove, take away; to bring to light again; (Late Latin) to delay”), from re- (prefix meaning ‘again’) + trahō (“to drag, pull; to extract, withdraw”) (apparently ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tregʰ- (“to drag, pull (?)”), a variant of *dʰregʰ- (“to drag, pull; to run”)). Doublet of retreat.

der

A cat can retract its claws.

To pull (something) back or back inside.

(specifically, zoology) To draw (an extended body part) back into the body.

縮

to draw (an extended body part) back into the body


raniform

(rare, chiefly zoology) Shaped like a frog; resembling a frog.


antlia

Borrowed from Latin antlia (“pump”), from Ancient Greek ἀντλία (antlía).

(archaic, zoology) The spiral tubular proboscis of butterflies.


chironomid

Fossil chironomids have proven useful as indicators of climatic change.

Devils Lake is where I began my career as a limnologist in 1964, studying the lake’s neotenic salamanders and chironomids, or midge flies. […] The Devils Lake Basin is an endorheic, or closed, basin covering about 9,800 square kilometers in northeastern North Dakota.

2012 January 20, Douglas Larson, “Runaway Devils Lake”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, archived from the original on 2012-05-23, page 46:

(entomology) Any of the non-biting midges or Chironomidae, a family of true flies within the order Diptera.


radial

en-adj

radial (comparative more radial, superlative most radial)

more radial (comparative)
most radial (superlative)

From Medieval Latin radiālis (“radial”), from Latin radius.

(entomology) Of, or relating to the radius (vein), and/or the wing areas next to it.


harlequin

en-noun

harlequin (countable and uncountable, plural harlequins)

From earlier Harlicken, from Middle French Harlequin (in Italian Arlecchino, the name of a popular servant character in commedia dell'arte plays), from Old French Harlequin, Halequin, Herlequin, Hellequin, Hierlekin, Hellekin (a demon, malevolent spirit), probably of Germanic origin, connected to the Old English figure of Herla Cyning (“King Herla”, a mythical figure identified with Woden) or possibly to Old Frisian helle kin, Old English helle cyn, Old Norse heljar kyn (“the kindred of Hell”). Related to Middle English Hurlewain (“a mischievous sprite or goblin”).

cog

(entomology) Any of various riodinid butterflies of the genera Taxila and Praetaxila.


bombardier

Borrowed from Middle French bombardier, from Old French bombarder (“a stone throwing engine”), equivalent to bombard + -er.


necropolis

en-noun

necropolis (plural necropolises or necropoleis or necropoles or necropoli)

necropolises (plural)
necropoleis (plural)
necropoles (plural)
necropoli (plural)

Brookwood Cemetery
Deir el-Bahari
London Necropolis Railway
Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut
Theban Necropolis

Borrowed from Koine Greek νεκρόπολις (nekrópolis, “city of the dead, cemetery”) (used to describe part of the city of Alexandria, Egypt), from Ancient Greek νεκρός (nekrós, “dead”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *neḱ- (“to disappear; to perish”)) + πόλις (pólis, “city”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tpelH- (“city; fortification”)). The English word is analysable as necro- + -polis, and is cognate with French nécropole, German Nekropolis, Late Latin necropolis.
The plural form necropoleis is derived from Ancient Greek νεκροπόλεις (nekropóleis).

der

These labours upon Phœnician necropoli are of great importance. [...] M. [Louis Félicien] de Saulcy, one of the first travellers who has thrown light upon these necropoli, devoted himself to a very interesting examination of the tombs of the kings, of the prophets and judges, and upon the immense necropolis that surrounds Jerusalem, like a funeral enceinte.

1853, Abbé de St. Michon [i.e., Jean-Hippolyte Michon], chapter XIV, in [anonymous], transl., Narrative of a Religious Journey in the East in 1850 and 1851, London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 338:

The ancient Greeks generally buried their dead in their nekropoleis or their gardens; often on the road leading to their towns, or before the gates. This pious feeling of affection and reverence for the dead, is a touching feature in the character of the modern Greeks.

1854, A[dolphus] L[ouis] Kœppen, “The Harbors and Naval Establishments of the Ancient Athenians—The Modern Peiræus”, in Sketches of a Traveller from Greece, Constantinople, Asia Minor, Syria and Palestine, Chambersburg, Pa.: […] M. Kieffer & Co., →OCLC, page 19:

What shall I say of these immense Necropoleis, or Cities of the Dead, where the same care and labour were employed to embellish death, as other nations have bestowed on the adornment of life? Such an architecture could have sprung up only among a people filled with the idea of immortality, and in whose eyes earthly existence was but a fleeting passage to a future life.

1859, James Burton Robinson, “Lecture IV. Lecture on the Geography, Institutions, Trade, Arts, and Sciences of Ancient Egypt”, in Public Lectures Delivered before the Catholic University of Ireland, on Some Subjects of Ancient & Modern History, in the Years 1856, 1857, & 1858, London: Catholic Bookselling & Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, page 149:

The monuments of Egypt are religious, as the temples; sepulchral, as the necropoles; or triumphal, as the obelisks. [...] The most splendid necropoles of Egypt are those of Memphis and Thebes, and to the necropolis of the former the pyramids of El-Geezeh, near Cairo, are especially related.

1860, Anne C[harlotte] Lynch Botta, “Egyptian Literature”, in Hand-book of Universal Literature, from the Best and Latest Authorities: […], New York, N.Y.: Derby & Jackson, […], →OCLC, page 60:

Are we not overawed by those immense temples [in Egypt], those prodigious palaces, those grottos hewn in the living rock, those endless necropolises, and those indestructible colossi?

1865 February 1, “Pointed Architecture. […]”, in The Art-Student; a Magazine of the Fine Arts: […], volume II, number 13, London: Hall, Smart, and Allen, […], →OCLC, page 262, column 2:

What would be the result if one attempted to determine the physical character of that people from a study of the remains in their necropoli?

1899 May, William Z[ebina] Ripley, “The Origin of European Culture”, in Appleton’s Popular Science Monthly, volume LV, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, →OCLC, pages 24–25:

"How did you happen to discover it?" he inquired as they emerged from the end of the avenue under a massive gateway carved by the cemetery's developers to resemble some regal necropolis of the Pharaohs.

1988 November, Barbara Hambly, chapter 3, in Those Who Hunt the Night, New York, N.Y.: Open Road Media, published 2011, →ISBN:

The great cemeteries or necropolises (literally, "cities of the dead") adjacent to the major Etruscan cities such as Cerveteri and Tarquinia are the most visible relics of this civilization.

1993, Graeme Barker, Annie Grant, Tom Rasmussen, “Approaches to the Etruscan Landscape: The Development of the Tuscania Survey”, in Peter Bogucki, editor, Case Studies in European Prehistory, Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, →ISBN, page 229:

Separate fractions of dentine and enamel of 12 individuals from the necropolis of Sion (Valais, Switzerland) have been analyzed for Pb and Sr isotope compositions.

2003 March, M. Chiaradia, A. Gallay, W. Todt, “Different Contamination Styles of Prehistoric Human Teeth at a Swiss Necropolis (Sion, Valais) Inferred from Lead and Strontium Isotopes”, in Applied Geochemistry, volume 18, number 3, Amsterdam: Elsevier Science, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, abstract, page 353:

If the layer of the offerings is contemporary with the burials, then these are the earliest of the nekropolis, dating to the early third quarter of the seventh century.

2011, Alexandra[-Fani] Alexandridou, “Attic Early Black-figured Shapes”, in John M. Fossey, Angelo Geissen, editors, The Early Black-figured Pottery of Attika in Context (c. 630–570 BCE) (Monumenta Graeca et Romana; 17), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 38, column 1:

(archaeology) An ancient site used for burying the dead, particularly if consisting of elaborate grave monuments.