homœothermic, a. Zool.
(hɒmiːəʊˈθɜːmɪk)
Usu. homoio-; also homeo-.
[ad. G. homöotherm (C. Bergmann 1847, in Göttinger Studien I. 613): see homœo- and thermic a.]
Maintaining an almost constant body temperature; warm-blooded; homothermous. Also homœoˈthermal a., in the same sense.
| 1870 Rolleston Anim. Life Introd. 49 The warm-bloodedness or homoeothermal character of Birds. 1885 W. Stirling tr. Landois' Text-bk. Human Physiol. I. vi. 426 Bergmann introduced the word homoiothermal animals for the warm-blooded animals. 1889 V. H. W. Wingrave T. Dunman's Gloss. Anat. Terms App. 175 Homœothermic,..of even temperature: applied to warm-blooded animals which maintain the same temperature, irrespective of that of the surrounding medium. 1891 Ann. Rep. Smithsonian Inst. 1890 407 Man, mammals, and birds are called creatures of equable temperature, homeothermic. 1903 Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B. CXCV. 37 Variation in production of heat is the ancestral method of homœothermic adjustment. 1928 Pearse & Hall Homoiothermism v. 31 Homoiothermal animals. Ibid. 33 Homoiothermic marine animals. 1965 B. E. Freeman tr. Vandel's Biospeleol. xiv. 237 Not one true cavernicole is known among the homoiothermic vertebrates, that is to say the birds and mammals. 1966 New Statesman 11 Nov. 697/1 Man is a homoiothermic animal... When it is cold the body attempts to reduce heat loss. |
Hence ˈhomœotherm, a homœothermic animal.
| 1891 Ann. Rep. Smithsonian Inst. 1890 411 These phenomena, which are numerous and active in animals of the higher class (homeotherms), are much less so in cold-blooded animals. 1968 D. W. Wood Princ. Animal Physiol. viii. 123 In contrast to poikilotherms, homeotherms maintain their body temperature at a more or less constant level, irrespective of the environmental temperature. |