| 释义 |
verˈmiparous, a. rare.
[f. vermi- + -parous. Cf. Sp. and Pg. vermiparo.]
1. Producing young, or produced as young, in the form of small worms or maggots.
1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 135 We deny not that many animals are vermiparous, begetting themselves at a distance. Ibid. 297 In creatures oviparous, as birds and fishes; in vermiparous, as Flies, Locusts, and Gnats; in animals also viviparous, as Swine and Conies. 1650Ibid. (ed. 2) v. v. 203 The same..may be also true in some vermiparous exclusions. 1765Treatise on Dom. Pigeons 14 All animals are distinguished into three sorts: oviparous,..viviparous,..and vermiparous, or such as are formed from a worm. 1910D. W. Thompson tr. Aristotle's Hist. Anim. 538 In oviparous and vermiparous creatures..the female is larger than the male.
2. Producing verminous parasites.
1860Encycl. Brit. (ed. 8) XXI. 974/2 Very few avertebrated animals are vermiparous, while there is probably no species of vertebrate that is exempted from parasites.
Hence † verˈmiparousness, ‘worm-breeding quality’ (Bailey, 1727, vol. II). Obs.—0 |