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genus

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genus


  2  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Genus  \Ge"nus\  (j[=e]"n[u^]s),  n.;  pl  {Genera}.  [L.,  birth, 
  race,  kind  sort;  akin  to  Gr  ?.  See  {Gender},  and  cf 
  {Benign}.] 
  1.  (Logic)  A  class  of  objects  divided  into  several 
  subordinate  species;  a  class  more  extensive  than  a 
  species;  a  precisely  defined  and  exactly  divided  class; 
  one  of  the  five  predicable  conceptions,  or  sorts  of  terms. 
 
  2.  (Biol.)  An  assemblage  of  species,  having  so  many 
  fundamental  points  of  structure  in  common,  that  in  the 
  judgment  of  competent  scientists,  they  may  receive  a 
  common  substantive  name  A  genus  is  not  necessarily  the 
  lowest  definable  group  of  species,  for  it  may  often  be 
  divided  into  several  subgenera.  In  proportion  as  its 
  definition  is  exact,  it  is  natural  genus;  if  its 
  definition  can  not  be  made  clear,  it  is  more  or  less  an 
  artificial  genus. 
 
  Note:  Thus  in  the  animal  kingdom  the  lion,  leopard,  tiger, 
  cat,  and  panther  are  species  of  the  Cat  kind  or  genus, 
  while  in  the  vegetable  kingdom  all  the  species  of  oak 
  form  a  single  genus.  Some  genera  are  represented  by  a 
  multitude  of  species,  as  Solanum  (Nightshade)  and  Carex 
  (Sedge),  others  by  few  and  some  by  only  one  known 
  species. 
 
  {Subaltern  genus}  (Logic),  a  genus  which  may  be  a  species  of 
  a  higher  genus,  as  the  genus  denoted  by  quadruped,  which 
  is  also  a  species  of  mammal. 
 
  {Summum  genus}  [L.]  (Logic),  the  highest  genus;  a  genus  which 
  can  not  be  classed  as  a  species,  as  being 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  genus 
  n  1:  a  general  kind  of  something  "ignore  the  genus  communism" 
  2:  (biology)  taxonomic  group  containing  one  or  more  species 




more about genus