hermaphrodite

Definitions

  • WordNet 3.6
    • adj hermaphrodite of animal or plant; having both male female reproductive organs
    • n hermaphrodite one having both male and female sexual characteristics and organs; at birth an unambiguous assignment of male or female cannot be made
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
  • Interesting fact: Most snails are hermaphrodites, meaning they have both female and male reproductive organs
    • n Hermaphrodite (Biol) An individual which has the attributes of both male and female, or which unites in itself the two sexes; an animal or plant having the parts of generation of both sexes, as when a flower contains both the stamens and pistil within the same calyx, or on the same receptacle. In some cases reproduction may take place without the union of the distinct individuals. In the animal kingdom true hermaphrodites are found only among the invertebrates. See Illust. in Appendix, under Helminths.
    • a Hermaphrodite Including, or being of, both sexes; as, an hermaphrodite animal or flower.
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Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
    • n hermaphrodite A human being in whom the sexual characteristics of both sexes are to some extent, really or apparently, combined; also, one of the higher animals which is similarly deformed. Such monstrosities are really of one sex or the other, but are generally imperfectly developed with respect to either. They are hence specifically called spurious hermaphrodites.
    • n hermaphrodite One of those lower animals which normally possess the parts of generation of both the male and the female, so that reproduction can take place without the union of two individuals. Such animals are called true hermaphrodites. They are those which have both an ovary and a testis, or a female and a male genital gland, in one and the same individual, as is very often the case among mollusks and worms. The essential organs of both sexes may exist simultaneously, or the animal may be male at one time and female at another; but in either case it is capable of self-impregnation.A variation of this case is seen in some animals, as earthworms, which are hermaphroditic yet copulate, each impregnating the other. True hermaphrodites occur only as an anomaly among vertebrates, but there are authentic instances of the development of a testis on one side of the body and an ovary on the other; and embryologically all sexual animals are hermaphrodites before the primitively similar genital gland has assumed the special characters of either sex.
    • n hermaphrodite In botany, a flower that contains both the stamen and the pistil perfectly developed, or the male and female organs of generation, within the same floral envelop or on the same receptacle. See perfect.
    • hermaphrodite Same as hermaphroditic.
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Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
    • n Hermaphrodite hėr-maf′rod-īt an animal or a plant in which the two sexual characteristics are united: an abnormal individual in whom are united the properties of both sexes
    • adj Hermaphrodite uniting the distinctions of both sexes
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Etymology

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
L. hermaphroditus, Gr. , so called from the mythical story that Hermaphroditus, son of Hermes and Aphrodite, when bathing, became joined in one body with Salmacis, the nymph of a fountain in Caria: cf. F. hermaphrodite,

Usage

In literature:

This state of things Darwin regards as derived from an original hermaphroditism.
"Evolution in Modern Thought" by Ernst Haeckel
Hermaphrodite: an individual in which the characters of both sexes are combined.
"Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology" by John. B. Smith
Turning for a very brief space to animals: on the land there are some hermaphrodites, as land-mollusca and earth-worms; but these all pair.
"On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection" by Charles Darwin
Hermaphrodites, as stated, date back to mythology.
"History of Circumcision from the Earliest Times to the Present" by Peter Charles Remondino
At present he is a kind of moral hermaphrodite, good for neither one thing nor another.
"The Bishop's Secret" by Fergus Hume
Another roll-call by the mysterious heterogeneous if not hermaphroditical Carolina sergeant!
"Lights and Shadows in Confederate Prisons" by Homer B. Sprague
These worms are phylogenetic, consequently hermaphroditic.
"Religion and Lust" by James Weir
Modern criticism is a half-tipsy Hermaphrodite, in love only with what is on the point of turning into something else.
"Visions and Revisions" by John Cowper Powys
I possess the secret of the hermaphroditic Gods.
"Fantazius Mallare" by Ben Hecht
For a Free Martin, or hermaphrodite, is not, in any case, either a bull or a cow.
"Delineations of the Ox Tribe" by George Vasey
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In news:

Consider an alternative interpretation of the Budget and Control Board ’s power grab: It actually illustrates why we should abolish this hermaphroditic anachronism.
thestate.com
" Hermaphrodites , calling themselves SHE MALES/TRANSEXUALS, travel a NATION-WIDE CIRCUIT of LOVE-MAKING, where they are WORSHIPPED as GODESSES of EROTIC LOVE LOVE PISTOLS on TOUR Fully LOADED".
sfbg.com
Cult of the Hermaphrodite at 5th and Mission.
sfbg.com
When I encountered this flyer on 5th and Mission, I figured "Cult of the Hermaphrodite " was yet another sadly-named juggalo band I'd never heard of.
sfbg.com
Lady Gaga Is A Hermaphrodite .
weldamfm.com
She is also an activist for intersex people -- (formerly known as hermaphrodites ) Her memoir "Mighty Hermaphrodite " will be published next spring.
cnn.com
Intersex people (formerly known as hermaphrodites ) are those born with bodies that are difficult to classify as either "male" or "female.
cnn.com
INTERVIEWS Of Montreal Improve Football in Trippily NSFW 'Sails, Hermaphroditic ' Video.
spin.com
INTERVIEWS Of Montreal Announce Rarities LP With 'Sails, Hermaphroditic '.
spin.com
Jeffrey Eugenides's Vest Speaks: 'The Most Famous Hermaphroditic Vest in History.
observer.com
At Yen's lab at New York University, where she studies worms under a microscope after school, she can point out which ones are hermaphrodites.
money.cnn.com
Papayas , it turns out, have not just one but three sexes: male, female and hermaphrodite.
latimes.com
As in any good story there are twists and eddies, and while he's talking you notice, across the room, a hermaphrodite wearing a low-cut shirt.
villagevoice.com
A small agricultural pest called the cottony cushion scale exhibits a bizarre form of hermaphroditism in which parasitic males infect their daughters at birth.
nytimes.com
You never see hermaphroditic zombies and you RARELY see baby zombies.
wgrd.com
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In science:

Axelrod and Hamilton [117] quote the example of sea bass, a hermaphrodite where partners stay together a long time and change sex roles on a regular basis.
Biological Evolution and Statistical Physics
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