analogous, a.
(əˈnæləgəs)
[f. L. analog-us (a. Gr. ἀνάλογ-ος: see prec.) + -ous.]
1. Having, or characterized by, analogy; similar in certain attributes, circumstances, relations, or uses; having something parallel. (Const to.)
| 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 96 Analogus relations concerning other plants, and such as are of neare affinity unto this. 1736 Butler Anal. vii. iii. 101 We are in a state of trial..analogous or like to our moral and religious trial. 1832 J. Austin Jurispr. (1879) I. v. 171 Two resembling objects are said..to be analogous, when one of them belongs to some class expressly or tacitly referred to and the other does not. 1847 Grote Greece (1862) III. xliii. 562 The rest of Sicily had experienced disorders analogous in character to those of Syracuse. |
b. esp. in Nat. Hist.
| 1664 Power Exp. Philos. i. 55 The bristles and quils in other Animals..are analogous to the hairs in a man. 1751 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Analogy, The gills of fishes are said to be analogous to the lungs in terrestrial animals. 1854 Woodward Man. Mollusca (1856) 47 Parts which correspond in their real nature (their origin and development) are termed ‘homologous’; those which agree merely in appearance or office are said to be ‘analogous.’ |
2. Expressing an analogy; = analogical 3. rare.
| 1671 J. Webster Metallogr. iii. 42 An analogous, if not an univocal generation. 1860 Abp. Thomson Laws of Th. §58 Nouns are either Univocal, Equivocal, or Analogous. In analogous nouns one meaning is extended to new sets of objects from some proportion or resemblance between them. |