polyandry
[pol-ee-an-dree, pol-ee-an-]
- the practice or condition of having more than one husband at one time.Compare monandry(def 1).
- (among female animals) the habit or system of having two or more mates, either simultaneously or successively.
- Botany. the state of being polyandrous.
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Origin of polyandry
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for polyandry
Historical Examples of polyandry
Polyandry must have been common at one time in southern India.
The Truth About WomanC. Gasquoine Hartley
Polyandry is a survival of the group-marriage of the mother-age.
The Truth About WomanC. Gasquoine Hartley
Polyandry, or the marriage of one female with several males.
The Sexual QuestionAugust Forel
Therefore, where polyandry is in the mores, women who comply with it are not unchaste.
FolkwaysWilliam Graham Sumner
What has monogamy or polygamy or polyandry to do with this matter?
polyandry
- the practice or condition of being married to more than one husband at the same timeCompare polygamy
- the practice in animals of a female mating with more than one male during one breeding season
- the condition in flowers of having a large indefinite number of stamens
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See polygyny
Word Origin for polyandry
C18: from Greek poluandria, from poly- + -andria from anēr man
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for polyandry
1767, nativized form of polyandria. Related: Polyandrist.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
polyandry
[(pol-ee-an-dree)]
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.