† simialadj.
Obsolete (and always less common than simian adj.).
1. Of, relating to, or of the nature of apes and monkeys.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > order Primates > suborder Anthropoidea (higher primates) > [adjective] > Old World > of superfamily Hominoidea > of family Pongidae > of or relating to apes
simian1774
simious1807
simial1827
pithecoid1860
1827 Atlas 7 Oct. 633/3 Let any one visit the monkeys in Exeter Change at feeding time... The whole simial society consequently loses half its meal by its roguery.
1849 G. Moore Man & Motives (ed. 2) i. 3 How does man derive this travelling disposition from his simial ancestors?
1864 Q. Jrnl. Sci. 1 91 It is quite a Simial characteristic and rarely if ever occurs in Man.
1906 M. D. Conway My Pilgrimage to Wise Men of East 268 This simial Solomon gave me a new idea; namely, that these monkeys were once men, and..they had concluded to evolve into monkey forms.
2. Characteristic of apes and monkeys; resembling or reminiscent of (that of) an ape or monkey; = simian adj. 1a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > order Primates > suborder Anthropoidea (higher primates) > [adjective] > Old World > of superfamily Hominoidea > of family Pongidae > of or relating to apes > like an ape
apish1570
simian1607
simious1807
simial1830
pithecoid1860
simioid1863
simiad1872
anthropoidal1885
1830 F. Marryat King's Own I. xiii. 184 The builder..skipping with all the simial ecstasy of a Frenchman.
1851 D. Jerrold St. Giles & St. James (new ed.) xxiv, in Writings I. 249 Vulgar souls who, judging from their simial selves, may doubt the continence of Scipio.
1903 H. Taunton Australind i. 10 How tell of the bleary and bloodshot eyes, which..gleamed from beneath a low brow deeply scored with simial wrinkles.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2019).
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adj.1827