Amplection
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 An embrace. archaic, rare
"Here let us cross the river Taw to Instow, on the left hand, which some call Yonestow, stands as a witness to the marriage of Taw and Torridge, which with their close amplections have demi-insulated this parish."
- 2 A form of pseudocopulation, found chiefly in amphibians and horseshoe crabs, in which a male grasps a female with his front legs; amplexus. dated, uncommon
"The mating amplexion in this species is axillary, as described for other species of the Bufonidae."
Example
More examples"Here let us cross the river Taw to Instow, on the left hand, which some call Yonestow, stands as a witness to the marriage of Taw and Torridge, which with their close amplections have demi-insulated this parish."
Etymology
From Middle English amplection, amplexion, from Latin amplexiō (“act of embracing”), from amplex-, past participial stem of amplector (“surround; embrace”), + -iō. In this form, with remodelling after Latin amplector. By surface analysis, amplect + -ion.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.