‖ unio Zool.
(ˈjuːnɪəʊ)
Pl. unios (‖ uniones).
[L. ūnio a single large pearl (Pliny). Cf. union n.2]
A genus of freshwater bivalves typical of the family Unionidæ; a mussel belonging to this or a related genus, esp. one yielding pearls; a river-mussel, pearl-mussel.
| 1824 Encycl. Brit. Suppl. V. 581/1 The second [family], Uniodæ [sic], will embrace Unio,..Anodonta, and Iridina. 1834 Griffith tr. Cuvier XII. 387 Pearls..are more especially produced by the thick bivalve shells, such as the uniones. Ibid. 401 There is nothing to induce us to mention the Unio here, except [etc.]. 1851 S. P. Woodward Mollusca 41 Some of the unios thicken their umbones enormously. 1899 Nature 15 June 151/2 The washing out of loose pearls from the unios. |
b. attrib. and Comb., as unio-fisher, unio mollusc, unio-shaped; unio-beds (see quot. 1888).
| 1861 P. P. Carpenter in Rep. Smithsonian Instit. 1860, 259 Unio-shaped shells. Ibid. 263 The musk-rats..being nature's great Unio-fishers. 1882 Proc. Berw. Nat. Club IX. 506 Birds..picking up the large Unio molluscs in rivers. 1888 Cassell's Encycl. Dict., Unio-beds,..certain beds in the Purbeck, characterized by the occurrence of species of Unio. 1897 Quart. Jrnl. Geol. Soc. Index 400/2 Unio-bed on Notowasaga River (Canada). |