biennial, a. and n.
(baɪˈɛnɪəl)
[f. L. bienni-s of two years, bienni-um space of two years (f. bi- two + annus year) + -al1.]
A. adj.
1. Existing or lasting for two years; changed every two years.
| 1621 Howell Lett. I. i. xli, The Duke is there [at Genoa] but Biennial, being chang'd every two years. a 1711 Ken Hymnoth. Poet. Wks. 1721 III. 12 Biennial Stores they [ants] treasure under Earth. 1854 Woodward Mollusca (1856), The land-snails are mostly biennial. |
b. esp. of plants; see B.
| 1691 Ray Creation i. (J.), Some..very long lived, others only annual or biennial. 1755 Gentl. Mag. XXV. 69 The common hemlock is biennial. 1805 Knight in Phil. Trans. XCV. 262 Annual and biennial plants. |
2. Recurring, happening, or taking place once in every two years.
| 1750 Johnson Rambl. No. 61 ¶6 Whom he condescends to honour with a biennial visit. |
B. n. Bot. A plant which springs from seed and vegetates one year (or growing season), and flowers, fructifies, and perishes the next.
| 1770 Waring in Phil. Trans. LXI. 385 Biennials..are the natural..product of such places. 1815 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 5) III. 610 Of the esculent kinds, the cabbage, savoy, carrot, parsnip, beet, onion, leek, etc., are biennials. |
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Add: [B.] 2. Chiefly U.S. An event taking place biennially; spec. (a) an examination formerly held at Yale (and subsequently at other American universities); (b) any of various named art exhibitions, music festivals, etc. (cf. *biennale n.); later extended to include similar events not held biennially.
| 1853 Root & Lombard Songs of Yale 4 The ‘Biennial’ is an Examination occurring twice during the course,—at the close of the Sophomore and of the Senior years, in all the studies pursued during the two years previous. It was established in 1850. 1928 Art & Archaeol. XXVI. 170/2 The Eleventh Corcoran Biennial is..the most significant and the broadest exhibit ever hung in Washington. 1946 Britannica Bk. of Year (U.S.) 555/1 The year 1945 was the year of the Corcoran Biennial in Washington. 1981 Art News May 95/2 These ‘biennials’—a word used by rote now to indicate large juried, invitational survey shows—are actually descendants of the big annual painting salons of 19th-century Europe and the blockbuster Venice Biennale, which began in the 1890s. |