Adjacent Words

Animal definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

AN'IMAL, n. [L. animal, from anima, air, breath, soul.]
An organized body, endowed with life and the power of voluntary motion; a living, sensitive, locomotive body; as, man is an intelligent animal. Animals are essentially distinguished from plants by the property of sensation. The contractile property of some plants, as the mimosa, has the appearance of the effect of sensation, but it may be merely the effect of irritability.
The distinction here made between animals and vegetables, may not be philosophically accurate; for we cannot perhaps ascertain the precise limit between the two kinds of beings, but this is sufficiently correct for common practical purposes.
The history of animals is called zoology.
By way of contempt, a dull person is called a stupid animal.
AN'IMAL, a. That belongs or relates to animals; as animal functions.
Animal is distinguished from intellectual; as animal appetites, the appetites of the body, as hunger and thirst.
The animal functions, are touch, taste, motion, etc.
Animal life is opposed to vegetable life.
Animal is opposed also to spiritual or rational, which respects the soul and reasoning faculties; as animal nature, spiritual nature, rational nature.
Animal food may signify that food which nourishes animals; but it usually denotes food consisting of animal flesh.
Animal economy is the system of laws by which the bodies of animals are governed and depending on their organic structure.
Animal spirit is a name given to the nervous fluid.
Animal spirits in the plural, life, vigor, energy.
Animal system, or animal kingdom denotes the whole class of beings endowed with animal life.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: marked by the appetites and passions of the body; "animal instincts"; "carnal knowledge"; "fleshly desire"; "a sensual delight in eating"; "music is the only sensual pleasure without vice" [syn: animal, carnal, fleshly, sensual] n
1: a living organism characterized by voluntary movement [syn: animal, animate being, beast, brute, creature, fauna]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Latin, from animale, neuter of animalis animate, from anima soul — more at animate Date: 14th century 1. any of a kingdom (Animalia) of living things including many-celled organisms and often many of the single-celled ones (as protozoans) that typically differ from plants in having cells without cellulose walls, in lacking chlorophyll and the capacity for photosynthesis, in requiring more complex food materials (as proteins), in being organized to a greater degree of complexity, and in having the capacity for spontaneous movement and rapid motor responses to stimulation 2. a. one of the lower animals as distinguished from human beings b. mammal; broadly vertebrate 3. a human being considered chiefly as physical or nonrational; also this nature 4. a person with a particular interest or aptitude <a political animal> 5. matter, thing <the theater…is an entirely different animal — Arthur Miller>; also creature 1c • animallike adjective II. adjective Date: 1615 1. of, relating to, resembling, or derived from animals 2. a. of or relating to the physical or sentient as contrasted with the intellectual or rational b. sensual, fleshly 3. of or relating to the animal pole of an egg or to the part from which ectoderm normally develops Synonyms: see carnal • animally adverb

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & adj. --n. 1 a living organism which feeds on organic matter, usu. one with specialized sense-organs and nervous system, and able to respond rapidly to stimuli. 2 such an organism other than man. 3 a brutish or uncivilized person. 4 colloq. a person or thing of any kind (there is no such animal). --adj. 1 characteristic of animals. 2 of animals as distinct from vegetables (animal charcoal). 3 characteristic of the physical needs of animals; carnal, sensual. Phrases and idioms: animal husbandry the science of breeding and caring for farm animals. animal magnetism hist. mesmerism. animal spirits natural exuberance. Etymology: L f. animale neut. of animalis having breath f. anima breath

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Animal An"i*mal, n. [L., fr. anima breath, soul: cf. F. animal. See Animate.] 1. An organized living being endowed with sensation and the power of voluntary motion, and also characterized by taking its food into an internal cavity or stomach for digestion; by giving carbonic acid to the air and taking oxygen in the process of respiration; and by increasing in motive power or active aggressive force with progress to maturity. 2. One of the lower animals; a brute or beast, as distinguished from man; as, men and animals.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Animal An"i*mal, a. [Cf. F. animal.] 1. Of or relating to animals; as, animal functions. 2. Pertaining to the merely sentient part of a creature, as distinguished from the intellectual, rational, or spiritual part; as, the animal passions or appetites. 3. Consisting of the flesh of animals; as, animal food. Animal magnetism. See Magnetism and Mesmerism. Animal electricity, the electricity developed in some animals, as the electric eel, torpedo, etc. Animal flower (Zo["o]l.), a name given to certain marine animals resembling a flower, as any species of actinia or sea anemone, and other Anthozoa, hydroids, starfishes, etc. Animal heat (Physiol.), the heat generated in the body of a living animal, by means of which the animal is kept at nearly a uniform temperature. Animal spirits. See under Spirit. Animal kingdom, the whole class of beings endowed with animal life. It embraces several subkingdoms, and under these there are Classes, Orders, Families, Genera, Species, and sometimes intermediate groupings, all in regular subordination, but variously arranged by different writers. Note: The following are the grand divisions, or subkingdoms, and the principal classes under them, generally recognized at the present time:

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(animals) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. An animal is a living creature such as a dog, lion, or rabbit, rather than a bird, fish, insect, or human being. He was attacked by wild animals... He had a real knowledge of animals, birds and flowers. N-COUNT 2. Any living creature other than a human being can be referred to as an animal. Language is something which fundamentally distinguishes humans from animals. ...a habitat for plants and animals. N-COUNT 3. Any living creature, including a human being, can be referred to as an animal. Watch any young human being, or any other young animal. N-COUNT 4. Animal products come from animals rather than from plants. The illegal trade in animal products continues to flourish... ADJ

Easton's Bible Dictionary

an organized living creature endowed with sensation. The Levitical law divided animals into clean and unclean, although the distinction seems to have existed before the Flood (Gen. 7:2). The clean could be offered in sacrifice and eaten. All animals that had not cloven hoofs and did not chew the cud were unclean. The list of clean and unclean quadrupeds is set forth in the Levitical law (Deut. 14:3-20; Lev. 11).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

an'-i-mal: See under the various names and also the general article on ZOOLOGY.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. 1. Creature, living being, created being, sentient being. 2. Beast, irrational creature, dumb creature, beast of the field, fowl of the air, denizen of the deep See brute. II. a. 1. Pertaining to living beings, living, sentient. 2. Derived from animals, composed of flesh, consisting of meat. 3. Carnal, physical, natural, fleshly, unspiritual, beastly, brutal, brutish.

Moby Thesaurus

Adamic, Angora goat, Arctic fox, Belgian hare, Caffre cat, Circean, Draconian, Goth, Gothic, Indian buffalo, Kodiak bear, Neanderthal, Tartarean, Virginia deer, aardvark, aardwolf, alpaca, ammonite, animalian, animalic, animalistic, ankylosaur, anteater, antelope, antelope chipmunk, anthropophagite, anthropophagous, aoudad, apar, aphrodisiomaniacal, archaeohippus, archaeotherium, archelon, armadillo, arthrodiran, ass, atrocious, aurochs, badger, bandicoot, barbarian, barbaric, barbarous, bassarisk, bat, bawdy, bear, beast, beastlike, beastly, beaver, being, bestial, bettong, binturong, bison, black bear, black buck, black cat, black fox, black sheep, bloodthirsty, bloody, bloody-minded, blue fox, bobcat, bodily, bothriolepis, brachiosaur, brontops, brontothere, brown bear, brush deer, brush wolf, brutal, brutalized, brute, brutelike, brutish, buffalo, buffalo wolf, burro, burro deer, cachalot, camel, camelopard, cannibal, cannibalistic, capybara, carabao, caribou, carnal, carpincho, cat, cat-a-mountain, catamount, cattalo, cavy, chamois, cheetah, chevrotain, chinchilla, chipmunk, cinnamon bear, clitoromaniacal, coarse, coccostean, coelodont, compsognathus, concupiscent, coon, coon cat, coryphodon, cotton mouse, cotton rat, cotylosaur, cougar, cow, coyote, coypu, creature, creeping thing, creodont, critter, crossopterygian, crude, cruel, cruel-hearted, cur, cynodictis, deer, deer tiger, demoniac, demoniacal, destroyer, devilish, diabolic, diatryma, dimetrodon, dingo, dinichthyid, dinothere, diplodocus, dirty, dog, donkey, dormouse, dromedary, duck-billed dinosaur, dumb, dumb animal, dumb friend, earthy, echidna, edaphosaurid, eland, elasmosaur, elephant, elk, ermine, erotic, eroticomaniacal, erotomaniacal, eryopsid, eurypterid, eyra, fallen, fallow deer, fell, feral, ferine, ferocious, ferret, field mouse, fiendish, fiendlike, fierce, fisher, fitch, fleshly, flying phalanger, foumart, fox, fox squirrel, gazelle, gemsbok, genet, giant sloth, giraffe, glutton, glyptodont, gnu, gnu goat, goat, goat antelope, goatish, gopher, grizzly bear, gross, ground squirrel, groundhog, guanaco, guinea pig, gynecomaniacal, hadrosaur, hamster, hare, harnessed antelope, hartebeest, hedgehog, hellish, hippopotamus, hog, horny, horse, hot, hound, hyena, hyrax, hysteromaniacal, ibex, ill-bred, impolite, infernal, inhuman, inhumane, insect, instinctive, instinctual, ithyphallic, jackal, jackass, jackrabbit, jaguar, jaguarundi, jerboa, jerboa kangaroo, kaama, kangaroo, kangaroo mouse, kangaroo rat, karakul, kinkajou, kit fox, koala, lapin, lapsed, lascivious, lecherous, lemming, leopard, leopard cat, lewd, libidinous, lickerish, lion, living being, living thing, llama, lubricious, lustful, lynx, mammal, mammoth, man-eater, mara, marmot, marten, mastodon, material, materialistic, meerkat, mindless, mink, mole, mongoose, mongrel, monster, moose, mouflon, mountain goat, mountain lion, mountain sheep, mouse, mule, mule deer, muntjac, murderous, musk deer, musk hog, musk-ox, muskrat, musquash, nihilist, nilgai, noncivilized, nonrational, nonspiritual, nutria, nymphomaniacal, obscene, ocelot, okapi, onager, oont, opossum, organism, orgiastic, otter, ounce, outlandish, ox, pack rat, painter, palaeodictyopteron, palaeoniscid, palaeophis, palaeosaur, palaeospondylus, panda, pangolin, panther, peccary, peludo, pelycosaur, phalanger, physical, phytosaur, pig, pine mouse, platypus, plesiosaur, pocket gopher, pocket mouse, pocket rat, polar bear, polar fox, polecat, porcupine, possum, postlapsarian, pouched rat, poyou, prairie dog, prairie wolf, priapic, primitive, pronghorn, protoceratops, protylopus, prurient, pteranodon, pteraspid, pterichthys, pterodactyl, pterosaur, puma, rabbit, raccoon, randy, rat, red deer, red squirrel, reindeer, reptile, rhinoceros, roe, roe deer, roebuck, rough-and-ready, rude, ruthless, sable, sadistic, salacious, sanguinary, sanguineous, satanic, satyric, sauropod, savage, scelidosaur, sensual, serpent, serval, sexual, sexy, shark, sharkish, sheep, shrew, shrew mole, sika, silver fox, skunk, slavering, sloth, smilodon, snake, snowshoe rabbit, springbok, squirrel, stoat, subhuman, suslik, swamp rabbit, swine, swinish, takin, tamandua, tamarin, tapir, tarpan, tatou, tatou peba, tatouay, tiger, tiger cat, timber wolf, titanosaur, trachodon, tree shrew, triceratops, trilobite, troglodyte, troglodytic, truculent, tyrannosaur, uintathere, unchristian, uncivil, uncivilized, uncombed, uncouth, uncultivated, uncultured, unhuman, unkempt, unlicked, unpolished, unrefined, unspiritual, untamed, urus, vandal, varmint, vermin, vicious, viper, vole, wallaby, warthog, water buffalo, waterbuck, weasel, wharf rat, whelp, whistler, white fox, wild, wild ass, wild boar, wild goat, wild man, wild ox, wildcat, wildebeest, wolf, wolfish, wolverine, wombat, wood rat, woodchuck, woolly mammoth, worm, wrecker, yak, zebra, zebu, zoic, zooid, zooidal, zoologic, zoological, zoril