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appetency

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appetency


  2  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Appetency  \Ap"pe*ten*cy\,  n.;  pl  {Appetencies}.  [L.  appetentia 
  fr  appetere  to  strive  after  long  for  See  {Appetite}.] 
  1.  Fixed  and  strong  desire;  esp.  natural  desire;  a  craving; 
  an  eager  appetite. 
 
  They  had  a  strong  appetency  for  reading.  --Merivale. 
 
  2.  Specifically:  An  instinctive  inclination  or  propensity  in 
  animals  to  perform  certain  actions,  as  in  the  young  to 
  suck,  in  aquatic  fowls  to  enter  into  water  and  to  swim; 
  the  tendency  of  an  organized  body  to  seek  what  satisfies 
  the  wants  of  its  organism. 
 
  These  lacteals  have  mouths,  and  by  animal  selection 
  or  appetency  the  absorb  such  part  of  the  fluid  as  is 
  agreeable  to  their  palate.  --E.  Darwin. 
 
  3.  Natural  tendency;  affinity;  attraction;  --  used  of 
  inanimate  objects. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  appetency 
  n  :  a  feeling  of  craving  something  "an  appetite  for  life";  "the 
  object  of  life  is  to  satisfy  as  many  appetencies  as 
  possible"-  Granville  Hicks  [syn:  {appetite},  {appetence}] 




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