Darwinn.
/ˈdɑːwɪn/, U.S. /ˈdɑrwᵻn/ 1. Anatomy. In the genitive. Designating a small protuberance often present on the inner edge of the descending portion of the helix of the human ear (often considered to be an atavistic remnant of an earlier shape of the mammalian ear); esp. in Darwin's point, Darwin's tubercle. Also: designating an ear having such a protuberance. Cf. Darwinian tubercle n. at Darwinian adj. and n. Compounds.
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1871 C. Darwin Descent of Man I. i. 21 The celebrated sculptor, Mr. Woolner, informs me of one little peculiarity in the external ear, which..consists in a little blunt point, projecting from the inwardly-folded margin, or helix.]
1871 Jrnl. Anat. & Physiol. 5 365 It may be confidently predicted that Darwin's ear will become as notorious as that of Jenkins.
1883 Jrnl. Anthropol. Inst. 12 82 Cases of ‘Darwin's point’ in the ear are constantly met with.
1890 Public Health 3 104/2 A few had Darwin's tubercle strongly developed.
1957 Encycl. Brit. VII. 823/2 Round the margin [of the ear] in its upper three-quarters is a rim called helix, in which is often seen a little prominence known as Darwin's tubercle, representing the folded-over apex of a prick-eared ancestor.
1985 S. L. Gilman Difference & Pathol. iii. 95 All of the signs point to the ‘primitive’ nature of the prostitute's physiognomy; stigmata such as ‘Darwin's ear’..are a sign of atavism.
2008 New Scientist 17 May 44/4 Darwin's point, or tubercle, is a minor malformation of the junction of the fourth and fifth hillocks of Hiss [sic].
2. Horticulture. Any tulip belonging to a group of varieties with tall stems and large, typically self-coloured flowers with a flat, rectangular base. Chiefly attributive in Darwin tulip. [Named in honour of Darwin: see quot. 1889.]
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > particular flower or plant esteemed for flower > [noun] > lily and allied flowers > tulip
lily narcissus1578
tulip1578
Turk's cap1597
breeder1660
fool's coat1669
morilliona1678
edger1688
eger1706
chequered tulip1759
parrot tulip?1786
verport1798
Rembrandt1829
bybloemen1843
wild tulip1861
Darwin tulip1889
1889 F. Darwin Let. 13 Apr. in E. H. Krelage Drie Eeuwen Bloembollenexport (1946) II. 553 Allow me to thank you for your courteous note in which you tell me of your wish to name after my father a new strain of tulips... I hope I shall see the ‘Darwin Tulips’ at Paris.
1891 Gardeners' Chron. 4 July 10/3 The Darwin Tulips are of Flemish origin.
a1916 H. H. Munro Toys of Peace (1919) 237 The Darwin tulips haven't survived the fact that most of the cats of the neighbourhood held a parliament in the middle of the tulip bed.
1969 R. Hay & P. M. Synge Dict. Garden Plants 368/2 The old tulips of the Dutch flower painters..are usually not so vigorous as the Darwins or Darwin hybrids.
2007 M. Quinn High Altitude Western Gardening 41 Spring just wouldn't be as cheerful without the vibrant and much, much larger Darwins.
3. Darwin's finch n. (also Darwin finch) any of several finch-like birds of the genera Geospiza, Camarhynchus, and related genera, endemic to the Galapagos Islands (and to Cocos Island, Costa Rica), where natural selection has resulted in a variety of specialized bill shapes suited to different food sources; also called Galapagos finch.The first specimens were collected by Charles Darwin and their relationship recognized by John Gould. At first regarded as true finches (family Fringillidae), they were later classified with the New World sparrows (family Emberizidae), though recent studies suggest that they may be related to the tanagers (family Thraupidae).
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the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > arboreal families > family Fringillidae (finch) > [noun] > unspecified and miscellaneous types of
ligurine1572
ligury1598
flax-finch1640
Kate1774
winter finch1783
indigo-bird1864
Galapagos finch1888
mamo1891
Darwin's finch1936
1936 P. R. Lowe in Ibis 6 310 I propose to confine myself to a consideration of one group of birds only, viz., Darwin's Finches, or the Geospizids.
1964 A. L. Thomson New Dict. Birds 178/2 Up to 10 species of Darwin's finches occur together on the central islands of the Galápagos group.
1971 G. Strachan tr. I. Eibl-Eibesfeldt Love & Hate iii. 36 The various species of Darwin finch still resemble one another closely, which makes their close relationship clear.
2001 BBC Wildlife Sept. 80/2 (advt.) Galapagos Special 2 Week Charters... Call at islands not on the usual tourist itineraries. Blue-footed Boobies, Galapagos Penguins, Darwin's Finches, Land and Marine Iguanas.
4. Biology. With lower-case initial. A proposed unit of rate of evolutionary change, equal to an increase or decrease in the size of some specified character by a factor of e (= 2.71828..) per million years; one thousand millidarwins.
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the world > life > biology > biological processes > evolution > [noun] > fitness to survive and reproduce > measures of
Darwin1949
millidarwin1949
fitness1953
inclusive fitness1964
1949 J. B. S. Haldane in Evolution 3 55/2 It may be found desirable to coin some word, for example a darwin, for a unit of evolutionary rate, such as an increase or decrease of size by a factor of e per million years, or, what is practically equivalent, an increase or decrease of 1/ 1000 per 1000 years. If so the horse rates would range round 40 millidarwins.
1970 Nature 17 Jan. 296/2 From Homo erectus at Choukoutien to H. sapiens the rate of decrease in both upper and lower canines was nearly 1 darwin.
1983 E. C. Minkoff Evolutionary Biol. xix. 321/2 The evolutionist J. B. S. Haldane has proposed that a relative change by a factor of e (the base of natural logarithms) per million years be known as a darwin.
2004 M. Ridley Evolution (ed. 3) xxi. 606 These character states are not the sort of metrical changes for which evolutionary rates can be measured in darwins.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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