migratory, a. and n.
(ˈmaɪgrətərɪ)
[f. L. migrāt-, ppl. stem of migrāre to migrate.]
1. Characterized by migration; given to migrating.
| 1755 Johnson, Horde, a clan; a migratory crew of people. 1815 Elphinstone Acc. Caubul (1842) II. 79 The..migratory tribes to the west of the pass of Gholairee. 1839 J. Yeowell Anc. Brit. Ch. xi. (1847) 116 The migratory nature of the primacy seems to have weakened its stability. 1878 Wolseley in 19th Cent. Mar. 449 Our population is so migratory that recruits are seldom enlisted in the parishes they were born in. 1879 Froude Cæsar v. 41 A vast migratory wave of population had been set in motion behind the Rhine and Danube. |
b. Of animals; spec. in Nat. Hist.: Characterized by or given to periodical migration. Sometimes as a rendering of a mod.L. specific name, as in migratory locust, migratory pigeon.
| [a 1672 Willughby Ornithol. i. ix. (1676) 17 Avium..quæ statis anni temporibus advolant iterumque discedunt, migratoriæ dictæ. (Ray translates: Which we call Birds of passage.)] 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. Bird, Migratory Birds, the same with birds of passage. 1793 tr. Buffon's Birds VI. 489 [Swallows.] Some are there permanent settlers and others migratory. 1808–14 A. Wilson Amer. Ornith. II. 293 Columba migratoria, Linnæus and Wilson. Migratory Pigeon... The wild pigeon of the United States. 1835 W. Irving Tour Prairies 206 We were on the great highway of these migratory herds. 1839 T. C. Hofland Brit. Angler's Man. iv. (1841) 107 It [the grayling] is very migratory, and frequently leaves one part of the river for another. 1875 Nicholson Man. Zool. (ed. 4) 290 The Migratory Locust (Acrydium migratorium) of Africa and Southern Asia. 1876 A. R. Wallace Geog. Distrib. Anim. I. i. i. 20 The same species is often sedentary in one part of Europe and migratory in another. |
c. Of a bodily organ, a disease, etc.: Characterized by movement from its normal position; esp. in Histol. of a cell: Given to migration from the blood-vessels to the tissues.
| 1876 Quain Anat. (ed. 6) II. 12 The pale blood-corpuscles may some of them make their way out of the blood-vessels and move freely in the surrounding tissues: hence the term ‘migratory cells’ (Wanderzellen) applied to them. 1877 tr. H. von Ziemssen's Cycl. Med. XV. 763 The Movable (Migratory) Kidney. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. III. 13 One of the most characteristic features of the disease [Acute Rheumatism] is the migratory nature of the joint affection. |
2. Of or pertaining to migration.
| 1757 Burke Abridgem. Eng. Hist. Wks. X. 274 This purpose [intermixture of mankind] is sometimes carried on by a sort of migratory instinct, sometimes by the spirit of conquest. 1839 Selby in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club I. No. 7. 190 The wild-fowl began to..yield to that influence which directs their migratory movements. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. I. viii. 80 The migratory passages of the reindeer. |
B. n. A migratory bird. rare.
| 1898 G. Meredith Odes Fr. Hist. 27 Winged migratories, having but heaven for home. |