Word of the Day for Thursday, May 5, 2011
epigamic \ep-i-GAM-ik\, adjective:
Attracting the opposite sex, as the colors of certain birds.
If the B.O. were a bird, his epigamic markings would be red, for attracting communist birds, and yellow, for attracting others of that ilk; or perhaps he would be a featherless fowl with no clue as to why he was the way he was, so he would send another clueless featherless fowl by the name of Carney out to speak for him!
--Spy Maker, JSA's Blog
But now the epigamic urgings travel beyond their periphery, kneading painfully against my heart and lungs and brain.-- Jim Thompson , Now and on Earth
Instead, on the male's side special epigamic characters, ornaments and movements are necessary to inform the female that a potential meal is not at hand.-- Hansjochem Autrum, Comparative physiology and evolution of vision in invertebrates: Part 3
Epigamic comprises the Greek roots epi-, "close in space or time," and gamos, "of marriage."
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