species

nonstandard plural rare specieses

1. countableuncountableA type or kind. (Compare race.)

   the male species

   3 more examples

   a new species of war

   What is called spiritualism should, I think, be called a mental species of materialism.

   1871, Richard Holt Hutton, Essays, Theological and Literary

   He went on kissing her with unflagging industry, while she remained limply in his arms, in a species of satisfied trance.

   1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, →OCLC, page 122

   1. countableuncountablebiologyA group of sexually reproducing organisms of which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction, usually having similar appearance.

      This species of animal is unique to the area.

      3 more examples

      Louise felt raised above her species; a voice had spoken within her inmost soul, whose revealings were vouchsafed but to the chosen few; and what had been indifference, was now disdain.

      1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter IX, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 103

      We may see many such [dust] storms in the decades ahead, along with species extinctions, radical disturbance of ecosystems, and intensified social conflict over land and water.

      2012 January 28, Donald Worster, “A Drier and Hotter Future”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, page 70

      Westerlund News Reporter Khalisah Bint Sinan al-Jilani reached out recently to her viewers with a wartime plea for unity and cooperation among all galactic species. UPDATED Her sincerity touched extranet viewers and donations for war relief efforts are pouring in, both to the Alliance and its alien allies.

      2012, BioWare, Mass Effect 3 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: War Assets: Khalisah Bint Sinan al-Jilani

   2. countableuncountablebiologyA category in the classification of organisms, ranking below genus; a taxon at that rank.

      Firstly, I continue to base most species treatments on personally collected material, rather than on herbarium plants.

      1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page vii

      2 more examples

      Hence, in determining whether a form should be ranked as a species or a variety, the opinion of naturalists having sound judgment and wide experience seems the only guide to follow.

      1859 November 24, Charles Darwin, “Variation under Nature”, in On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 47

      Plant breeding is always a numbers game.[…]The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation, and individual plants are highly heterozygous and do not breed true. In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better.

      2013 May-June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3

   3. countableuncountableAn individual or kind of a biological species.
   4. countableuncountablechemistryA particular type of atom, molecule, ion or other particle.
   5. countableuncountablechemistryA mineral with a unique chemical formula whose crystals belong to a unique crystallographic system.
2. An image, an appearance, a spectacle.
   1. countableobsoleteuncountableThe image of something cast on a surface, or reflected from a surface, or refracted through a lens or telescope; a reflection.

      I cast the species of the Sun onto a sheet of paper through a telescope.

   2. countableobsoleteuncountableVisible or perceptible presentation; appearance; something perceived.

      the species of the letters illuminated with indigo and violet

      1704, I[saac] N[ewton], “(please specify |book=1 to 3)”, in Opticks: Or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light. […], London: […] Sam[uel] Smith, and Benj[amin] Walford, printers to the Royal Society, […], →OCLC

      1 more example

      Wit,[…]the faculty of imagination in the writer, which searches over all the memory for the species or ideas of those things which it designs to represent.

      1667, John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis: The Year of Wonders, 1666. […], London: […] Henry Herringman, […], →OCLC, (please specify the stanza number)

3. countableuncountableChristianityEither of the two elements of the Eucharist after they have been consecrated.
4. countableuncountableCoin, or coined silver, gold, or other metal, used as a circulating medium; specie.

   There was, in the splendour of the Roman empire, a less quantity of current species in Europe than there is now.

   1727, John Arbuthnot, Tables of Ancient Coins, Weights and Measures

5. countableuncountableA component part of compound medicine; a simple.

1. pluralplural of specie