unisexual, a.
(juːnɪˈsɛksjuːəl)
[ad. mod.L. unisexual-is (F. unisexuel (1812), Pg. unisexual): see uni- and sexual a.]
1. Of one sex; having the essential generative or reproductive organs of one or other sex developed or present in individuals: a. Bot. Of flowers: In which either the stamens or pistils are absent or suppressed. Also, of plants: Characterized by flowers of this kind; = diclinous a.
| 1802 R. Hall Elem. Bot. 193 Unisexual,..having one sex. 1828 Stark Elem. Nat. Hist. II. 461 The last three classes [of plants]..have the flowers thus disposed, and are hence named unisexual. 1839 Lindley Sch. Bot. 16 In particular species the stamens are found in one flower, and the pistil in another..; such plants are called unisexual. 1854 S. Thomson Wild Fl. 62 These unisexual blossoms being either the production of the same individual plant, or of separate individuals of the same species. 1872 Oliver Elem. Bot. ii. 169 Burnet Sanguisorb,..with..unisexual flowers. |
| Comb. 1877 Nature 26 April 548/1 A unisexual-flowering plant. |
b. Zool. Of animals or their organs.
In Ent. of certain agamic broods of Aphides: consisting of the female sex only (Cent. Dict. 1891).
| 1830 R. Knox Béclard's Anat. 29 The organs of generation present all the varieties, unisexual, without copulation, hermaphrodite [etc.]. 1861 Hulme tr. Moquin-Tandon ii. i. 47 In a great number of animals the sexes are separated and placed on distinct individuals: these are said to be unisexual. 1877 Darwin Forms of Fl. Introd. 2 The males and females of ordinary unisexual animals. |
2. Pertaining or restricted to one sex; U.S. esp. of colleges or schools.
| 1885 L. Oliphant Sympneumata 182 The relationship of person which would maintain in a painful activity the currents of the decaying unisexual layers of either frame. 1886 Century Mag. June 326/1 One final provincialism of the mind there is, which a unisexual college certainly never would have any power to eradicate. 1904 Daily Chron. 14 Oct. 6 The present unjust system of unisexual punishments. |
3. = unisex a.
| 1970 Sunday Times 29 Nov. 29/2 Adolescents of both genders strode along..with books and long flaxen unisexual hair. 1978 C. Sykes in R. Buckle U & Non-U Revisited 52 By the 1960s unisexual umbrellas were commonplace in Germany. |
Hence uniˈsexually adv.
| 1891 Cent. Dict. s.v., Animals unisexually developed. 1901 Nature 10 Jan. 252/1 Not that spontaneous variations are always inherited unisexually. |
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Add: B. n. Bot. and Zool. A unisexual organism or inflorescence.
| 1895 Funk's Stand. Dict. 1972/2 Unisexual, a plant or inflorescence having flowers of one sex only. 1969 Amer. Naturalist CIII. 607 Miller's 1957 collection..contained..71 immature unisexuals. 1974 Nature 13 Sept. 138/1 Hybridisation of these two species formed P[oeciliopsis] monacha-lucida, a diploid unisexual. 1988 Evolution XLII. 655/2 The presence of numerous diploid-triploid mosaics among the Phoxinus unisexuals adds an extra element of complexity unknown in most unisexual systems. |