SEGMENTAL a.
y of the segmental tubes and segmental ducts. (b) (Zoöl.) The tubular excretory organs, a pair of which often occur in each of several segments in annelids. They serve as renal organs, and often, also, as oviducts and sperm ducts. See Illust. under Sipunculacea. -- Segmental tubes (Anat.), the tubes which primarily op…
SERAPH n.
One of an order of celestial beings, each having three pairs of wings. In ecclesiastical art and in poetry, a seraph is represented as one of a class of angels. Isa. vi. 2. As full, as perfect, in vile man that mourns, As the rapt seraph that adores and burns. Pope. Seraph moth (Zoöl.), any one of numerous species of g…
SEXUAL a.
selection which results from certain individuals of one sex having more opportunities of pairing with the other sex, on account of greater activity, strength, courage, etc.; applied likewise to that kind of evolution which results from such sexual preferences. Darwin. In these cases, therefore, natural selection seems…
SICK a.
Corrupted; imperfect; impaired; weakned. So great is his antipathy against episcopacy, that, if a seraphim himself should be a bishop, he would either find or make some sick feathers in his wings. Fuller. Sick bay (Naut.), an apartment in a vessel, used as the ship's hospital. -- Sick bed, the bed upon which a person…