dehiscencen.
/dɪˈhɪsəns/ Gaping, opening by divergence of parts, esp. as a natural process:
a. Botany. The bursting open of capsules, fruits, anthers, etc. in order to discharge their mature contents.
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the world > space > relative position > condition of being open or not closed > [noun] > action or process of opening > gaping open or opening wide
gapingc1374
chasm1596
yawn1697
yawning1820
dehiscence1828
1828 N. Webster Amer. Dict. Eng. Lang. (citing Martyn).
1830 J. Lindley Introd. Nat. Syst. Bot. Introd. 29 In Hamamelideæ dehiscence is effected by the falling off of the face of the anthers.
1861 R. Bentley Man. Bot. i. iv. 251 The anthers..open and discharge the pollen contained within them; this act is called the dehiscence of the anther.
b. Animal Physiology. Applied to the bursting open of mucous follicles, and of the Graafian follicles, for the expulsion of their contents.
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1859 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. V. 56/1 The ova..drop by internal dehiscence into the cavity of the ovary.
1870 G. Rolleston Forms Animal Life Introd. 38 The ova are set free by dehiscence into the perivisceral cavity.
c. figurative and gen.
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1853 E. K. Kane U.S. Grinnell Exped. (1856) xxxiii. 285 The dehiscence..of such tensely-compressed floes, must be the cause of the loud explosions we have heard lately.
1860 O. W. Holmes Elsie Venner 139 A house is a large pod with a human germ or two in each of its cells or chambers; it opens by dehiscence of the front door..and projects one of its germs to Kansas, another to San Francisco.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1894; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.1828