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19 results for: sex
Audio Help [seks] Pronunciation Key | 1. | either the male or female division of a species, esp. as differentiated with reference to the reproductive functions. |
| 2. | the sum of the structural and functional differences by which the male and female are distinguished, or the phenomena or behavior dependent on these differences. |
| 3. | the instinct or attraction drawing one sex toward another, or its manifestation in life and conduct. |
| 4. | coitus. |
| 5. | genitalia. |
| 6. | to ascertain the sex of, esp. of newly-hatched chicks. |
| 7. | sex up, Informal.
|
| 8. | to have sex, to engage in sexual intercourse. |
| Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006. |
sex
To learn more about sex visit Britannica.com
| © 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. |
| Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006. |
| sex
Audio Help (sěks) Pronunciation Key
n.
tr.v. sexed, sex·ing, sex·es
[Middle English, from Latin sexus.] |
| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
sex (n.)
| Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper |
sex (v.)
| Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper |
| sex | |
noun | |
| 1. | activities associated with sexual intercourse; "they had sex in the back seat" [syn: sexual activity] |
| 2. | either of the two categories (male or female) into which most organisms are divided; "the war between the sexes" |
| 3. | all of the feelings resulting from the urge to gratify sexual impulses; "he wanted a better sex life"; "the film contained no sex or violence" |
| 4. | the properties that distinguish organisms on the basis of their reproductive roles; "she didn't want to know the sex of the foetus" |
verb | |
| 1. | stimulate sexually; "This movie usually arouses the male audience" [syn: arouse] |
| 2. | tell the sex (of young chickens) |
| WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University. |
sex
see fair sex.
| The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. |
sex1 [seks] noun
Example: Jeans are worn by people of both sexes; What sex is the puppy?
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Example: discrimination on the grounds of sex; (also adjective) sex discrimination
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| Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary (Beta Version), © 2000-2006 K Dictionaries Ltd. |
| sex
Audio Help (sěks) Pronunciation Key
Either of two divisions, male and female, into which most sexually reproducing organisms are grouped. Sex is usually determined by anatomy, the makeup of the sex chromosomes, and the type and amount of hormones produced. When the sex of an organism is determined by the sex chromosomes, males and females are generally produced in equal numbers. In other organisms, such as bees and wasps, in which females develop from fertilized eggs and males develop from unfertilized eggs, distribution of the sexes is unequal. Our Living Language : Thanks to high school biology, we are accustomed to thinking of the sex of an organism as being determined by the chromosomes, notably the sex chromosome in humans (designated X or Y). But this is not the whole story, and it applies universally only to mammals and birds. In other animals sex is often determined by environmental factors and can be a variable phenomenon. In a species of slipper limpet (Crepidula fornicata), a kind of mollusk, all individuals begin life as females. Clinging to rocks and to each other, they form piles. The limpet on top of the pile changes into a male. If another limpet attaches itself on top of the male limpet, the newcomer becomes male, and the male limpet beneath it reverts to being female. These slipper limpets show the evolutionarily advanced feature of internal fertilization, and the male on top extends his reproductive organ down the pile of females below him to fertilize their eggs. For some fish, the number of males in the population determines the sex of the fish. If there are not enough males, some females become males. In these examples, the same animal can make fertile eggs and fertile sperm at different times in its life. These animals are not hermaphrodites, like some worms, but literally change sex. Some animals have only one sex. For instance, some species of lizards reproduce only by parthenogenesis—that is, their unfertilized eggs grow into adults, and these species no longer have males. Sometimes the external temperature determines the sex of an animal during its early development. If the eggs of the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) are incubated at above 34 degrees Celsius (93° F), all of the offspring become males. If they are incubated below 30 degrees Celsius (86° F), they become females. The midrange of temperatures results in both male and female offspring. |
| The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
ks)- The property or quality by which organisms are classified as female or male on the basis of their reproductive organs and functions.
- Either of the two divisions, designated female and male, of this classification.
- Females or males considered as a group.
- The condition or character of being female or male; the physiological, functional, and psychological differences that distinguish the female and the male.
- The sexual urge or instinct as it manifests itself in behavior.
- Sexual intercourse.
| The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. |
Main Entry: 2sex
Function: transitive verb
: to identify the sex of <techniques for sexing human embryos>
| Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc. |
Main Entry: 1sex
Pronunciation: 'seks
Function: noun
1 : either of the two major forms of individuals that occur in many species and that
are distinguished respectively as male or female
2 : the sum of the structural, functional, and behavioral characteristics of living things that are involved in reproduction by two
interacting parents and that distinguish males and females
3 a : sexually motivated phenomena or behavior b : SEXUAL INTERCOURSE
| Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc. |
SEX
/seks/ [Sun Users' Group & elsewhere] 1. Software EXchange. A technique invented by the blue-green algae hundreds of millions of years ago to speed up their evolution, which had been terribly slow up until then. Today, SEX parties are popular among hackers and others (of course, these are no longer limited to exchanges of genetic software). In general, SEX parties are a Good Thing, but unprotected SEX can propagate a virus. See also pubic directory.
2. The mnemonic often used for Sign EXtend, a machine instruction found in the PDP-11 and many other architectures. The RCA 1802 chip used in the early Elf and SuperElf personal computers had a "SEt X register" SEX instruction, but this seems to have had little folkloric impact.
DEC's engineers nearly got a PDP-11 assembler that used the "SEX" mnemonic out the door at one time, but (for once) marketing wasn't asleep and forced a change. That wasn't the last time this happened, either. The author of "The Intel 8086 Primer", who was one of the original designers of the Intel 8086, noted that there was originally a "SEX" instruction on that processor, too. He says that Intel management got cold feet and decreed that it be changed, and thus the instruction was renamed "CBW" and "CWD" (depending on what was being extended). The Intel 8048 (the microcontroller used in IBM PC keyboards) is also missing straight "SEX" but has logical-or and logical-and instructions "ORL" and "ANL".
The Motorola 6809, used in the UK's "Dragon 32" personal computer, actually had an official "SEX" instruction; the 6502 in the Apple II with which it competed did not. British hackers thought this made perfect mythic sense; after all, it was commonly observed, you could (on some theoretical level) have sex with a dragon, but you can't have sex with an apple.
[The Jargon File]
(1998-03-03)
| The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe |
SEX
/seks/ [Sun Users' Group & elsewhere] n. 1. Software EXchange. A technique invented by the blue-green algae hundreds of millions of years ago to speed up their evolution, which had been terribly slow up until then. Today, SEX parties are popular among hackers and others (of course, these are no longer limited to exchanges of genetic software). In general, SEX parties are a Good Thing, but unprotected SEX can propagate a virus. See also pubic directory. 2. The rather Freudian mnemonic often used for Sign EXtend, a machine instruction found in the PDP-11 and many other architectures. The RCA 1802 chip used in the early Elf and SuperElf personal computers had a `SEt X register' SEX instruction, but this seems to have had little folkloric impact. The Data General instruction set also had `SEX'.
DEC's engineers nearly got a PDP-11 assembler that used the `SEX' mnemonic out the door at one time, but (for once) marketing wasn't asleep and forced a change. That wasn't the last time this happened, either. The author of "The Intel 8086 Primer", who was one of the original designers of the 8086, noted that there was originally a `SEX' instruction on that processor, too. He says that Intel management got cold feet and decreed that it be changed, and thus the instruction was renamed `CBW' and `CWD' (depending on what was being extended). Amusingly, the Intel 8048 (the microcontroller used in IBM PC keyboards) is also missing straight `SEX' but has logical-or and logical-and instructions `ORL' and `ANL'.
The Motorola 6809, used in the Radio Shack Color Computer and in U.K.'s `Dragon 32' personal computer, actually had an official `SEX' instruction; the 6502 in the Apple II with which it competed did not. British hackers thought this made perfect mythic sense; after all, it was commonly observed, you could (on some theoretical level) have sex with a dragon, but you can't have sex with an apple.
| Jargon File 4.2.0 |
Sex
Sex\, n. [L. sexus: cf. F. sexe.]1. The distinguishing peculiarity of male or female in both animals and plants; the physical difference between male and female; the assemblage of properties or qualities by which male is distinguished from female. 2. One of the two divisions of organic beings formed on the distinction of male and female. 3. (Bot.) (a) The capability in plants of fertilizing or of being fertilized; as, staminate and pistillate flowers are of opposite sexes. (b) One of the groups founded on this distinction. The sex, the female sex; women, in general.| Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. |
| SEX Sextans (constellation) |
| The American Heritage® Abbreviations Dictionary, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
SEX
SEX: in Acronym Finder
| Acronym Finder, © 1988-2007 Mountain Data Systems |
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