dichromatic, a. (and n.)
(daɪkrəʊˈmætɪk)
[f. Gr. δι- two + χρωµατικός of or relating to colour, f. χρῶµα colour.]
1. a. Having or showing two colours; spec. of animals: Presenting, in different individuals, two different colours or systems of coloration.
| 1847 Craig, Dicromatic. 1864 in Webster. 1884 Coues Key to N.A. Birds (ed. 2) 504 Plumage dichromatic in some cases; i.e. some individuals of the same species normally mottled gray, while others are reddish. 1889 G. A. Berry Dis. Eye xi. 340 Why in the case of the partially colour-blind the absence of the perception of two complementary hues should leave the individual only a dichromatic spectrum. |
b. fig.
| 1962 Listener 28 June 1128/3, I am not sure that he [sc. a novelist] presents his world with justice; his characterization is too dichromatic. |
2. Ophthalm. Of, pertaining to, or affected with dichromatism.
| 1897 Norris & Oliver Syst. Dis. Eye I. 654/2 Dichromatic color-blindness. 1905 J. W. Baird Color Sensitivity of Peripheral Retina 21 The color sensitivity of the periphery is so weak as to approximate in some degree the condition of the dichromatic, or even of the monochromatic retina. 1907 Smithsonian Inst. Rep. 1907 620 In dichromatic vision color perception is so limited that all of the shades perceived may be made by combining two of the spectral colors. Ibid., The ordinary color blindness is dichromatic. 1959 Chambers's Encycl. V. 552/2 Subjects who have what is called two-colour (dichromatic) vision..could be of three varieties: red-blind subjects, green-blind subjects and blue-blind subjects. |
Hence as n., = dichromat.
| 1897 W. Thomson in Norris & Oliver Syst. Dis. Eye I. 600 We find people who can see only two colors in the whole spectrum. They are called dichromatics. |