lusus naturaen.
/ˈl(j)uːsəs nəˈtjʊəriː/ A supposed sportive action of Nature to which the origin of marked variations from the normal type (of an animal, plant, etc.) was formerly ascribed. Chiefly concrete, a natural production deviating markedly from the normal type, or having the appearance of being a result of sportive design; a ‘freak of nature’.
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the world > life > biology > biological processes > genetic activity > [noun] > changes or actions of genes or chromosomes > mutation > mutant
sport of nature1601
lusus naturaea1661
sportling1723
sport1834
bud-sport1900
mutant1901
break1921
mutation1941
a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) Glouc. 351 Others more probably account them [sc. fossils] to be Lusus Naturæ.
1726 J. Swift Gulliver I. ii. iii. 51 They..concluded unanimously that I was only Relplum Scalcath, which is interpreted literally, Lusus Naturæ.
1767 B. Gooch Pract. Treat. Wounds I. 180 Doctor Hunter..exhibits many arms..shewing this Lusus Naturæ.
1816 H. M. Brackenridge Jrnl. Voy. Missouri 46 The wild turkey is invariably black: although, it is possible, that by some lusus naturæ, there may be white.
1833 C. Bell Hand ii. 31 The animals of the Antediluvian world were not monsters; there was no lusus or extravagance.
1845 R. Ford Hand-bk. Travellers in Spain I. iii. 334 A lusus naturæ called el Torcal, an assemblage of stones which look like a deserted town.
1850 E. B. Browning Lost Bower xlviii I have found a bower today A green lusus—fashioned half in Chance, and half in Nature's play.
1880 A. Gray Struct. Bot. 419/1 Lusus, a ‘sport’ or variation from a seed or bud.
1885 Manch. Examiner 18 Feb. 3/2 It is a veritable curiosity—a sort of fossilised lusus naturæ.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1903; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
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