subclass
(ˈsʌbklɑːs, -æ-)
[sub- 7 b. Cf. F. sous-classe.]
A subdivision of a class; Nat. Hist. a group of orders ranking next to a class.
| 1819 G. Samouelle Entomol. Compend. 77 Dr. Leach considered the Malacostraca and Entomostraca as sub⁓classes. 1857 A. Gray First Less. Bot. (1866) 177 Series, Class, Subclass, Order, or Family, Suborder, Tribe, Sub⁓tribe, Genus, Subgenus or Section, Species, Variety. 1880 Günther Fishes 65 The lowermost sub-class of fishes, which comprises one form only, the Lancelet. 1882 Vines tr. Sachs' Bot. 161 Dividing this class of structures into two sub-classes, hairs and emergences. |
| attrib. 1869 Duke of Argyll Primeval Man ii. 62 One of Cuvier's sub-class divisions. |
So
ˈsubclass v. trans., to place in a subclass.
| 1894–5 16th Ann. Rep. Bur. Amer. Ethnol. 72 The motive must be subclassed as sortilegic. |