释义 |
polytocous, a.|pəˈlɪtəkəs| Also -tokous. [f. Gr. πολυτόκος producing numerous offspring, prolific + -ous.] a. Zool. Producing several young at a birth; multiparous. b. Bot. Bearing fruit many times: a term proposed instead of polycarpous. So † poˈlytoky Obs. rare [Gr. πολυτοκία], production of numerous offspring, fecundity.
1702C. Mather Magn. Chr. iii. xxix. 165/1 Altho' New England has no Instances of such a Polytokie, yet it has had Instances of what has been remarkable: one Woman has had not less than Twenty two Children. 1715Thoresby Ducatus Leodieusis App. 608 Dorothy..Wife of Mr. Joseph Cowper of this Parish, died in childbed of her twenty-fifth or twenty-sixth Birth, which is the greatest Instance of such a Polytokie in these Parts. 1880Gray Struct. Bot. (ed. 6) 33 note, Polytocous (bearing many times) would be more appropriate [than polycarpic]. 1932Proc. 6th Internat. Congr. Genetics I. 188 In polytokous mammals we may expect that genes favoring rapid embryonic growth will spread, as slower growing embryos are at a disadvantage. 1936Nature 12 Sept. 451/2 This..process [sc. fœtalization] has been essential for the evolution of man:..it could not have occurred in a polytocous form, where slowing of early growth would be prevented by intra-uterine selection. 1956Ibid. 11 Feb. 288/2 Many observers have stressed the importance of a change in the nutrition of polytocous ewes during late pregnancy in the etiology of the disease. 1971Ibid. 8 Oct. 379/1 In the polytocous species such as the small mammals and even the pig, it is not normally necessary to induce superovulation in order to provide the requisite number of eggs. |