| 释义 |
pubescence|pjuːˈbɛsəns|
[a. F. pubescence (= med.L. pūbēscentia in Du Cange): see pubescent and -ence.]
1. The fact or condition of arriving at puberty; also = puberty 1.
1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iv. xii. 216 Solon divided it into ten Septenaries, because in every one thereof a man received some sensible mutation, in the first is Dedentition or falling of teeth: in the second Pubescence. 1822–34Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) IV. 91 Young men when entering upon or emerging from pubescence.
2. Bot. The soft down which grows on the leaves and stems of many plants; the character or condition of being pubescent or downy.
1760J. Lee Introd. Bot. iii. xviii. (1765) 211 Pubescence..is an Armature, by which Plants are defended from external Injuries. 1830Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 151 Herbaceous plants,..with a simple pubescence. 1870Hooker Stud. Flora 288 Marrubium... Hoary, pubescence almost woolly.
3. Zool. The soft down which occurs upon certain parts of various animals, esp. insects.
1826Kirby & Sp. Entomol. IV. xliv. 203 In this disease when the animal [flesh-fly] is dead..its almost invisible pubescence grows into long hairs. 1853Kane Grinnell Exp. xxx. (1856) 261 The downy pubescence of the ears. |