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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

amplexus en · NOUN

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin amplexus (“embrace”).

Meanings

  1. (uncountable) A form of pseudocopulation, found chiefly in amphibians and horseshoe crabs, in which a male grasps a female with his front legs as part of the mating process.
    • Finally, we came upon a pair of Panamanian robber frogs locked in amplexus—the amphibian version of sex. 2014, Elizabeth Kolbert, chapter 1, in The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, Henry Holt and Company:
    • In the middle, just below the surface, a male and a female were locked in amplexus, a coupling that can last for days as the male waits to fertilise the eggs when they are laid. 2018 March 29, Ed Douglas, “Country diary: tantric embraces and nuptial pads – the secrets of frog sex revealed”, in The Guardian:
  2. (uncountable) In vernation, the situation where two sides of one leaf overlap the two sides of the one above it.

Relateds

amplexion · amplect · amplex · amplection · amplexation · amplexus reservatus

Synonyms

amplection//amplexion · amplexation

Translations (2)

pt amplexo (pseudocopulation in which a male grasps a female with his front legs) · pl ampleksus (pseudocopulation in which a male grasps a female with his front legs)