degeneration
(dɪdʒɛnəˈreɪʃən)
[a. F. dégénération (15th c. in Hatzf.), n. of action from L. dēgenerāre to degenerate: see -ation.]
1. The process of degenerating or becoming degenerate; the falling off from ancestral or earlier excellence; declining to a lower or worse stage of being; degradation of nature.
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 460 That so he might learn the difference betwixt his generation, and his degeneration, and consider how great a loss unto him was his fall in Paradise. 1658 Sir T. Browne Hydriot. i. 3 Others conceived it most natural to end in fire..whereby they also declined a visible degeneration into worms. 1661 Cowley Prop. Adv. Exp. Philos. Concl., Capable (as many good Institutions)..of Degeneration into any thing harmful. 1845 Maurice Mor. Philos. in Encycl. Metrop. II. 598/1 It is possible in each case to trace the process of degeneration. |
b. Biol. A change of structure by which an organism, or some particular organ, becomes less elaborately developed and assumes the form of a lower type.
| [1751 Chambers Cycl. s.v., Others hold, that degeneration only obtains in vegetables; and define it the change of a plant of one kind, into that of another viler kind. Thus, say they, wheat degenerates into darnel..But our..best naturalists maintain the opinion of such a degeneration, or transmutation, to be erroneous.] 1848 Carpenter Anim. Phys. 33 Such a degeneration may take place simply from want of use. 1879 Ray Lankester Degeneration (1880) 32 Degeneration may be defined as a gradual change of the structure in which the organism becomes adapted to less varied and less complex conditions of life. Ibid. 32 Elaboration of some one organ may be a necessary accompaniment of Degeneration in all the others. 1883 Syd. Soc. Lex. s.v., In many flowers..the formation of a nectary results from the degeneration of the stamens. |
c. Path. ‘A morbid change in the structure of parts, consisting in a disintegration of tissue, or in a substitution of a lower for a higher form of structure’ (Syd. Soc. Lex.).
| 1851–60 in Mayne Expos. Lex. 1866 A. Flint Princ. Med. (1880) 54. 1869 E. A. Parkes Pract. Hygiene (ed. 3) 193 The gangrenous degeneration rapidly extended. 1883 Syd. Soc. Lex. s.v., Fatty degeneration..consists in the substitution of oil globules for the healthy protoplasm of cells, or other structures, by transformation..of the protoplasmic compound. |
2. The condition of being degenerate; degeneracy.
| ? 1481 Caxton Orat. G. Flamineus F j, Rather..with degeneracion than nobleness. a 1652 J. Smith Sel. Disc. ix. 446 It speaks the degeneration of any soul..that it should desire to incorporate itself with any..sensual delights. 1865 Merivale Rom. Emp. VIII. lxviii. 368 When the popular notion of its degeneration was actually realized. |
† 3. Something that has degenerated; a degenerate form or product. Obs.
| c 1645 Howell Lett. (1892) II. 475 What Languages..are Dialects, Derivations, or Degenerations from their Originals. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iii. xvii. 147 Cockle, Aracus, ægilops, and other degenerations which come up in unexpected shapes. 1748 Hartley Observ. Man i. iv. 453 The Degenerations and Counterfeits of Benevolence. |
Hence degeneˈrationist nonce-wd., one who holds a theory of degeneration.
| 1871 Tylor Prim. Cult. I. 48 The opinions of older writers..whether progressionists or degenerationists. |