Charles Darwin

Naturalist, 1809-1882

Cited as Darwin. — 32 quotations

Aberrant

The more aberrant any form is, the greater must have been the number of connecting forms which, on my theory, have been exterminated.

Aboriginal

It may well be doubted whether this frog is an aboriginal of these islands.

Absorbent

The ocean, itself a bad absorbent of heat.

Accordant

Strictly accordant with true morality.

Analyze

No one, I presume, can analyze the sensations of pleasure or pain.

Anomaly

As Professor Owen has remarked, there is no greater anomaly in nature than a bird that can not fly.

Approbation

Animals . . . love approbation or praise.

Arboreal

Woodpeckers are eminently arboreal.

Artful

The artful revenge of various animals.

Ashamed

An ashamed person can hardly endure to meet the gaze of those present.

Atmospheric

The lower atmospheric current.

Babble

The babble of our young children.

Backbone

The lofty mountains on the north side compose the granitic axis, or backbone of the country.

Buoy

Not one rock near the surface was discovered which was not buoyed by this floating weed.

Caudal

The male widow-bird, remarkable for his caudal plumes.

Coloration

The females . . . resemble each other in their general type of coloration.

Condition

The new conditions of life.

Considerably

The breeds . . . differ considerably from each other.

Consort

The snow-white gander, invariably accompanied by his darker consort.

Curvature

The elegant curvature of their fronds.

Death

At all ages the death rate is higher in towns than in rural districts.

Dimorphism

Dimorphism is the condition of the appearance of the same species under two dissimilar forms.

Discommunity

Community of embryonic structure reveals community of descent; but dissimilarity of embryonic development does not prove discommunity of descent.

Flowerer

Many hybrids are profuse and persistent flowerers.

Geologize

During midsummer geologized a little in Shropshire.

Hollow

The more civilized so-called Caucasian races have beaten the Turks hollow in the struggle for existence.

Instinct

The resemblance between what originally was a habit, and an instinct becomes so close as not to be distinguished.

Intercross

We have reason to believe that occasional intercrosses take place with all animals and plants.

Oceanic

Petrels are the most aerial and oceanic of birds.

Polygamous

Most deer, cattle, and sheep are polygamous.

Strain

With animals and plants a cross between different varieties, or between individuals of the same variety but of another strain, gives vigor and fertility to the offspring.

Varietal

Perplexed in determining what differences to consider as specific, and what as varietal.