mesologyn.
/mɛˈsɒlədʒi/, /məˈsɒlədʒi/, U.S. /məˈzɑlədʒi/; see also meso- comb. form. rare.† 1. In Jeremy Bentham's terminology: the branch of logic that deals with the means of attaining happiness. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
a1832 J. Bentham Ess. Logic in Wks. (1843) VIII. 283/2 Then so it is that with that portion of the field of eudæmonics which is occupied by mesology; the whole field of ontology..is coincident.
2. The branch of science that deals with the relationship between organisms and their environment.
ΚΠ
1883 R. Quain Dict. Med. 973 Mesology... This term, recently introduced by Bertillon, conveniently expresses the investigation of the mutual relationship existing between living beings and their surroundings.
1903 Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. 9 400 [The] theoretical antagonism..between..between the self and the non-self, between mesology and anthropology.
1947 tr. G. Freyre Masters & Slaves 14 [The Portuguese is] predisposed by [his] own mesology to a victorious encounter with the tropics.
1968 Evolution 22 476/1 Size variation in L[ittorina] neritoides was not affected directly by the mesology of the substratum, but was probably due to microevolutionary selection.
Derivatives
ΚΠ
1895 I. K. Funk et al. Standard Dict. Eng. Lang. II. at Meso- Mesologist n.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.a1832