trimorphicadj.
/trʌɪˈmɔːfɪk/, U.S. /traɪˈmɔrfɪk/ Having, or existing in, three forms: spec.
a. Botany. Having flowers with pistils and stamens of three different relative lengths.
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the world > plants > variety or species > [adjective] > having or existing in different forms
trimorphic1866
trimorphous1875
the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > flower or part containing reproductive organs > [adjective] > having or relating to parts > of or having stamens or pistils > characterized by relative length
homomorphous1854
thrum-eyed1861
trimorphic1866
dimorphic1870
homomorphic1873
heteromorphic1874
heterostyled1876
heterogone1877
heterogonous1877
homogone1877
homogonous1877
homostyled1877
homostylic1883
homostylous1886
heterostylous1887
1866 C. Darwin Origin of Species (ed. 4) iv. 111 The reciprocally dimorphic and trimorphic plants.
1870 J. D. Hooker Student's Flora Brit. Islands 147 Lythrum Salicaria..Flowers trimorphic in respect of length of style and filaments in 3 sets of individuals.
b. Zoology. Exhibiting three different forms (colorations, etc.) in different individuals of a species, or of a colony of polyps.
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the world > animals > [adjective] > having the form of an animal > having or existing in three forms
trimorphic1870
trimorphous1875
1870 H. A. Nicholson Man. Zool. 19 When two such distinct forms exist the species is said to be ‘dimorphic’, and when three are present it is called trimorphic.
1888 G. Rolleston & W. H. Jackson Forms Animal Life (ed. 2) 238 The worker bee is a dimorphic female; the soldiers and workers among the Termites are trimorphic with the fully-formed male and female.
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c. Crystallography. Of a substance: Occurring in crystals of three fundamentally different forms with the same chemical composition.
Derivatives
ˈtrimorph n. Crystallography a trimorphic substance, or each of its three different forms.
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1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl. Trimorph.
triˈmorphism n. trimorphic condition, occurrence in three different forms (of a plant, animal, or crystalline substance).
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the world > animals > [noun] > occurrence in three different forms
trimorphism1860
the world > plants > variety or species > [noun] > occurrence in different forms
trimorphism1860
1860 J. E. Worcester Dict. Eng. Lang. Trimorphism, the property of crystallizing in three different forms. Dana.
1862 C. Darwin in Life & Lett. (1887) III. 301 If I can only prove..it [Lythrum] is a grand case of trimorphism, with three different pollens and three stigmas.
1866 C. Darwin Origin of Species (ed. 4) ii. 50 There are, however, other cases, namely of dimorphism and trimorphism,..which certain animals of either sex, and certain hermaphrodite plants, habitually present. Thus..the females of certain species of butterflies..appear under two or even three conspicuously distinct forms.
triˈmorphous adj. = main sense.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > [adjective] > having the form of an animal > having or existing in three forms
trimorphic1870
trimorphous1875
the world > plants > variety or species > [adjective] > having or existing in different forms
trimorphic1866
trimorphous1875
1875 J. Lubbock Wild Flowers iii. 77 Of the foreign species of Oxalis some are dimorphous, some trimorphous.
1878 H. P. Gurney Crystallogr. 83 Titanium dioxide is trimorphous, for it not only crystallises as Anatase and Rutile, but also as Brookite.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1914; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1860