Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Formation or development of a second fetus when one is already present in the uterus, occurring normally in some animal species.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A second conception some time after a prior one, by which two fetuses of different age exist together in the same female: often used figuratively. The possibility of superfetation in the human female has been the subject of much investigation, but the weight of evidence goes to show that it may occur not only with double uteri, but also in the earlier period of pregnancy, under rare conditions, with normal single uterus. Also called
superconception . - n. The fetus produced by superfetation; hence, any excrescent growth.
Wiktionary
- n. An excessive accumulation; a superfluous addition.
- n. The formation of a fetus while another fetus is already present in the uterus.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Physiol.) The formation of a fetus at the result of an impregnation occurring after another impregnation but before the birth of the offspring produced by it. This is possible only when there is a double uterus, or where menstruation persists up to the time of the second impregnation.
WordNet 3.0
- n. fertilization of a second ovum after a pregnancy has begun; results in two fetuses of different ages in the uterus at the same time
Etymologies
- From Latin superfetare ("conceive while pregnant"), from super- + fetus. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“There have been only 10 recorded cases of the phenomenon, dubbed superfetation.”
“It's called "superfetation," and I guess it happens... not only can you get pregnant while on your period, etc., I guess you can get pregnant ANYTIME.”
“She addressed the controller of excise as “M. Chatelet,” and left that gentleman thunderstruck by the discovery that she knew about the illegal superfetation of the particle.”
“Erasistratus, that superfetation may happen to women as to irrational creatures; for, if the womb be well purged and very clean, then there can be divers births.”
“The birth of twins is an evil portent to the Mpongwes, as it is in many parts of Central Africa, and even in the New World; it also involves the idea of moral turpitude, as if the woman were one of the lower animals, capable of superfetation.”
“Neither from the beginning would it ever admit of any additions unto it, but what came from the same fountain of divine revelation and inspiration, clearing itself, in all ages, from all addition and superfetation of men whatever.”
“Transports, that escape from the Gallows, to the Plantations abroad, and a superfetation of Felons, to give a little Business to our Judges,”
“Argles 2.39 mentions simultaneous extrauterine fetation and superfetation.”
“Pliny speaks of a slave who bore two infants, one resembling the master, the other a man with whom she had intercourse, and cites the case as one of superfetation.”
“The most curious and convincing examples of superfetation are those in which children of different colors, either twins or near the same age, are born to the same woman, -- similar to that exemplified in the case of the mare who was covered first by a stallion and a quarter of an hour later by an ass, and gave birth at one parturition to a horse and a mule.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘superfetation’.
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reproduction
gravid, hysterectomy, vanishing twin, fetal resorption, fetus papyraceus, craniopagus paras..., vestigial twin, fetus in fetu, pump twin, blighted ovum, fetal pole, crown-rump length and 109 more...
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phrontistery-s
from phrontistery.info
syzygy, systyle, systematology, systatic, syssitia, syrtic, systaltic, syrt, syrinx, syphilomania, syphilology, syntrierarch and 1593 more...
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Hence
Words with definitions that have a "hence" in them.
hanger, Deet, tripe, spindlelegs, fiddle, store, pluck, snap, villain, link, comedy, particular and 410 more...
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Chennessy's Words
philistine, messianic, dyad, cult, bourgeois, blot, ploy, polyglot, lingua franca, cumbersome, lumber, petit-bourgeois and 446 more...
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Madame Bovary
Some good words (chiefly French of origin, and often to do with the medical profession) encountered reading the Aveling translation -- mostly new to me, but a few words that are just worthy of bein...
tulle, argand, friable, corolla, lives of stir, difficile, rime, inveigh, feuilleton, peristyle, refulgence, wainscoting and 98 more...
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19 c.
some of the interesting words i've had to look up while reading 19th century lit
maugre, connate, alembic, azote, vaticination, valetudinarian, dight, scutcheon, lammergeyer, chamois, asseverate, prebendary and 199 more...
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Words I've learned just now
Words I saw in a sentence somewhere and didn't know them well enough before.
iconoclasm, anomie, epigone, bourdon, pugilistic, beatific, apostasy, sublunary, cachinnation, truculent, gloaming, punctilious and 79 more...
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Pathologica
carcinoma, sarcoma, dyscrasia, sclerosis, ictus, intussusception, thrombosis, embolism, sepsis, carcinomatosis, acrochordon, nevus and 58 more...
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Deuces Wild
Can you spot the twoishness?
juxtapositioned, bifurcation, chiaroscuro, oscillation, beta, reciprocity, polarity, doppelgänger, twofer, Chalcedonian, diploid, twofold and 29 more...
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Human Medical Terms
spermatogonial, avulsed, teetotalism, rubenesque, superfetation, paroxysm, cephalization
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Love and Romance
Tweets
Looking for tweets for superfetation.
milosrdenstvi In the beginning was the Word.
Superfetation of τὸ ἔν,
And at the mensual turn of time
Produced enervate Origen.
T. S. Eliot Nov 9, 2010
quotato Baby, oh baby! Sep 26, 2009
bilby Not an obsession with Greek cheese. Nov 5, 2008