Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Relating to, characterized by, or practicing polygamy.
  • adjective Botany Having both hermaphroditic and unisexual flowers on the same plant or on separate plants of the same species.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Relating to or characterized by polygamy: as, polygamous marriage (a union including more than one spouse of either sex, sanctioned in respect to plurality of wives by the law of some countries, but not recognized as marriage by the law of Christian states).
  • In zoöl mating with more than one individual of the opposite sex; polyandrous or polygynous, especially the latter, which is more frequent among animals than the former.
  • In botany, bearing both unisexual and bisexual or hermaphroditic flowers in the same species.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to polygamy; characterized by, or involving, polygamy; having a plurality of wives; ; -- opposed to monogamous.
  • adjective (Zoöl.) Pairing with more than one female.
  • adjective (Bot.) Belonging to the Polygamia; bearing both hermaphrodite and unisexual flowers on the same plant.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of, relating to, or practicing polygamy.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective having several forms of gametoecia on the same plant
  • adjective having more than one mate at a time; used of relationships and individuals

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

poly- + -gamous

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