Amplect

verb

verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To embrace. archaic

    "It is a junceous and gramineous Plant, whoſe ſmall, dry, hard and nodous root emits hard, ſtraggling, round, full, not concave, and clear reeds, gracile towards the top, whoſe rigid, mucronated, and pale leaves of half a palms length, amplect its gramineous ſurcles."

  2. 2
    To grasp (the mating partner) with front legs, so as to engage in amplexus. rare

    "To name just several, male toads (Bufo bufo) sometimes amplect other males, female Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) mount one another and engage in genital contact, and male flour beetles (Tribolium castaneum) will mount and attempt to deposit sperm on other males."

Example

More examples

"It is a junceous and gramineous Plant, whoſe ſmall, dry, hard and nodous root emits hard, ſtraggling, round, full, not concave, and clear reeds, gracile towards the top, whoſe rigid, mucronated, and pale leaves of half a palms length, amplect its gramineous ſurcles."

Etymology

From Latin amplector.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.