osculant, a.
(ˈɒskjuːlənt)
[ad. L. osculānt-em, pr. pple. of osculārī to kiss.]
1. Kissing. rare.
| In mod. Dicts. |
2. Situated between and connecting two things; intermediate; spec. in Nat. Hist. applied to two species, genera, or families, that are united by some common characters, and to an intermediate species, genus, or group, which unites in itself the characters of two groups.
| [1819 W. S. MacLeay Horæ Entomologicæ 37 These genera I propose to call osculantia, from their occurring as it were at the point where the circles touch one another.] 1826 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. IV. 234 The internal sense..is osculant between intellect and sense. Ibid. 382 They may form an osculant group, partly winged and partly apterous. 1873 G. Henslow Th. Evolut. i. 7 Forms..intermediate to other forms hitherto well distinct—‘osculant’ or intercalary forms as they are called. |