Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Genus
Ge′nus
(jē′nŭs)
, Noun.
pl.
Genera
(#)
. 1.
(Logic)
A class of objects divided into several subordinate species; a class more extensive than a species; a precisely defined and exactly divided class; one of the five predicable conceptions, or sorts of terms.
2.
(Biol.)
An assemblage of species, having so many fundamental points of structure in common, that in the judgment of competent scientists, they may receive a common substantive name. A genus is not necessarily the lowest definable group of species, for it may often be divided into several subgenera. In proportion as its definition is exact, it is natural genus; if its definition can not be made clear, it is more or less an artificial genus.
☞ Thus in the animal kingdom the lion, leopard, tiger, cat, and panther are species of the Cat kind or genus, while in the vegetable kingdom all the species of oak form a single genus. Some genera are represented by a multitude of species, as Solanum (Nightshade) and Carex (Sedge), others by few, and some by only one known species.
Subaltern genus
(Logic)
, a genus which may be a species of a higher genus, as the genus denoted by quadruped, which is also a species of mammal.
– Summum genus
[L.]
(Logic)
, the highest genus; a genus which can not be classed as a species, as being.
Geocentric latitude
(of place) the angle included between the radius of the earth through the place and the plane of the equator, in distinction from geographic latitude. It is a little less than the geographic latitude.
Webster 1828 Edition
Genus
GE'NUS
,Noun.
plu.
1.
In logic, that which has several species under it; a class of a greater extent than species; a universal which is predicable of several things of different species.2.
In natural history, an assemblage of species possessing certain characters in common, by which they are distinguished from all others. It is subordinate to class and order,and some arrangements, to tribe and family. A single species, possessing certain peculiar characters,which belong to no other species, may also constitute a genus; as the camelopard,and the flamingo.3.
In botany, a genus is a subdivision containing plants of the same class and order, which agree in their parts of fructification.