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polyandrous

[pol-ee-an-druh s]
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adjective
  1. of, pertaining to, characterized by, or practicing polyandry; polyandric.
  2. Botany. having an indefinite number of stamens.
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Origin of polyandrous

First recorded in 1820–30, polyandrous is from the Greek word polyándros having many husbands. See poly-, -androus
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for polyandrous

Historical Examples

  • If they really are polygamous and polyandrous, it is bad, but acceptable.

    The Kreutzer Sonata and Other Stories

    Leo Tolstoi

  • Polyandrous, when it has many stamens, or more than a dozen.

  • Polyandrous, with numerous stamens (inserted on the receptacle), 100.

  • "And it's polyandrous--so a woman ought to have a good time--" she laughed.

    The Mountebank

    William J. Locke

  • A man may be polygamous in one village, and be one of a polyandrous lot of men a few miles off.

Word Origin and History for polyandrous

adj.

1764, in botany, "having numerous stamens," from poly- + stem of aner "man, husband" (see anthropo-). From 1854 of humans, "having more than one husband." Greek polyandros meant "numerous" (of persons), "populous" (of places); polyanor meant "of many husbands."

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
polyandrous in Science

polyandrous

[pŏl′ē-ăn′drəs]
  1. Relating to a species of animals in which the females mate with more than one male in a single breeding season.
  2. Relating to an angiosperm plant that has an indefinite number of stamens in its flowers.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.