vestigialadj.
/vɛˈstɪdʒɪəl/, /vəˈstɪdʒɪəl/, /vɛˈstɪdʒ(ə)l/, /vəˈstɪdʒ(ə)l/, U.S. /vɛˈstɪdʒ(i)əl/ 1. Of the nature of a vestige; remaining or surviving in a degenerate, atrophied, or imperfect condition or form:
a. spec. in Biology of certain organs or structures.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > development, growth, or degeneration > [adjective] > degeneration or disruption
degradational1863
vestigial1877
disruptic1889
degradative1940
the world > life > biology > physical aspects or shapes > physical arrangement or condition > [adjective] > surviving in atrophied or imperfect form
vestigial1877
1877 Gray's Anat. (ed. 8) p. cxlvi The only remains of the Wolffian body in the complete condition of the female organs are two rudimentary or vestigial structures.
1884 E. Coues Key to N. Amer. Birds (ed. 2) ii. 215 The transitory wolffian bodies and ducts..ultimately disappear from the female,..leaving only a trace of their former existence in certain vestigial structures.
1892 Month Jan. 16 The existence of what are called ‘rudimentary’ or ‘vestigial’ organs.
1898 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. V. 727 A triangular fold—the ‘vestigial fold’ of Marshall—formed by a duplicature of the serous layer,..passes between the left pulmonary artery and the subjacent pulmonary veins.
b. In general use.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > incompleteness > part of whole > that which is left or remainder > [adjective] > remaining after others of its kind > remaining in degenerate form
vestigial1892
1892 19th Cent. Jan. 37 They are only the stunted remnants, the vestigial and atrophied traces indicating the later stages of ages of [mental] development.
a1901 F. W. H. Myers Human Personality (1903) II. 308 Vestigial beliefs which still encumbered the spirit have had time to atrophy.
2. Telecommunications. vestigial side band, a side band which is partially attenuated (usually at the higher frequencies) before transmission; frequently attributive, with reference to a system in which one full side band and one vestigial side band are transmitted (with or without the carrier), esp. to improve the transmission of low-frequency components of the signal.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > [adjective] > band of frequencies
wide-band1931
vestigial side band1940
society > communication > telecommunication > [noun] > signal > frequency or band of frequencies > band of frequencies
sideband1921
frequency band1922
passband1922
waveband1923
S-band1946
baseband1952
guard band1956
vestigial side band1966
1940 D. G. Fink Princ. Television Engin. vii. 288 At the transmitter, the principal problem of vestigial side~band transmission (as the above-described system is called) is the design of a filter having the pass characteristics shown in Fig. 162.
1966 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. (rev. ed.) I. 352/1 In standard television broadcasting in the continental United States..the vestigial sideband has a bandwidth one-sixth that of a full sideband.
1979 A. A. Liff Colour & Black & White Television Theory & Servicing ii. 55 The FCC standards require that the lower sideband be transmitted in vestigial sideband form and that the upper sideband be transmitted in its entirety.
Derivatives
veˈstigially adv.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > incompleteness > part of whole > that which is left or remainder > [adverb] > in a vestigial form
vestigially1902
1902 Amer. Anthropologist 4 33 This conception persists up through barbarism, albeit vestigially, into civilization.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1917; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1877