Hermaphrodite

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Hermaphrodite \Her*maph"ro*dite\, a.
     Including, or being of, both sexes; as, an hermaphrodite
     animal or flower.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     {Hermaphrodite brig}. (Naut.) See under {Brig}. --Totten.


        Hermaphroditic

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Hermaphrodite \Her*maph"ro*dite\, n. [L. hermaphroditus, Gr. ?,
     so called from the mythical story that Hermaphroditus, son of
     Hermes and Aphrodite, when bathing, became joined in one body
     with Salmacis, the nymph of a fountain in Caria: cf. F.
     hermaphrodite.] (Biol.)
     An individual which has the attributes of both male and
     female, or which unites in itself the two sexes; an animal or
     plant having the parts of generation of both sexes, as when a
     flower contains both the stamens and pistil within the same
     calyx, or on the same receptacle. In some cases reproduction
     may take place without the union of the distinct individuals.
     In the animal kingdom true hermaphrodites are found only
     among the invertebrates. See Illust. in Appendix, under
     Helminths.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  hermaphrodite
       adj : of animal or plant; having both male female reproductive
             organs [syn: {hermaphroditic}]
       n : one having both male and female sexual characteristics and
           organs; at birth an unambiguous assignment of male or
           female cannot be made [syn: {intersex}, {gynandromorph},
           {androgyne}, {epicine}, {epicine person}]

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  HERMAPHRODITES. Persons who have in the sexual organs the appearance of both 
  sexes. They are adjudged to belong to that which prevails in them. Co. Litt. 
  2, 7; Domat, Lois Civ. liv. 1, t. 2, s. 1, n.. 9. 
       2. The sexual characteristics in the human species are widely 
  separated, and the two sexes are never, perhaps, united in the same 
  individual. 2 Dunglison's Hum. Physiol. 304; 1 Beck's Med. Jur. 94 to 110. 
       3. Dr. William Harris, in a lecture delivered to the Philadelphia 
  Medical Institute, gives an interesting account of a supposed hermaphrodite 
  who came under his own observation in Chester county, Pennsylvania. The 
  individual was called Elizabeth, and till the age of eighteen, wore the 
  female dress, when she threw it off, and assumed the name of Rees, with the 
  dress and habits of a man; at twenty-five, she married a woman, but had no 
  children. Her clitoris was five or six inches long, and in coition, which 
  she greatly enjoyed, she used this instead of the male organ. She lived till 
  she was sixty years of age, and died in possession of a large estate, which 
  she had acquired by her industry and enterprise. Medical Examiner, vol. ii. 
  p, 314. Vide 1 Briand, M‚d. L‚g. c. 2, art. 2, Sec. 2, n. 2; Dict. des 
  Sciences M‚d. art. Hypospadias, et art. Impuissance; Guy, Med. Jur. 42, 47.