genital 
second abdominal segment of the male dragon-fly. It con- 
tains the copnhitinjj-siic, which previous to union with the 
female is filled with seminal lluid from the spermatic duet 
at the end of the alidomen. Genital nerve, the genital 
branch of the genitoerural nerve, supplying the cremaster 
muscle of the male and the round ligament of the uterus 
of the female. Genital plate, in echinoderms, one of the 
perforated plates which ;;ive exit to the generative pro- 
ducts. Genital products, the immediate produce of 
any genital gland, male or female that is, spermatozoa or 
ova of any kind. Genital ridge, in embryol., a thicken- 
ing of connective tissue at the siile of the mesentery in the 
region of the primitive kidney, where the epithelium dips 
in to form the rudiments of ova. Genital segments, in 
entom., the segments of the abdomen which are modified 
to form accessory pieces of the external generative organs ; 
specifically, in the Ilemiptera, the seventh and, when visi- 
ble, the succeeding segments, which are so modified. 
Genital sinus, In Ili/drozoa, the genital chamber (see 
above). 
II. . See genitals. 
genitalia (jen-i-ta'li-a), n. pi. [L. (sc. mem- 
bra), neut. pi. of genitalis, genital : see geni- 
tal, a., genitals.] In zoo'l., the generative or- 
gans ; the genitals. 
The genitalia [of AspMogaeter] form a large part of the 
viscera, and the structure of the complex hermaphrodite 
apparatus is ... peculiar. Huxley, Anat. Invert., p. 173. 
genitals (jen'i-talz), n. pi. The sexual organs; 
especially, the external sexual organs ; the gen- 
italia. 
Genite (je'nit), n. One of a sect of the an- 
cient Jews, who in the Babylonish captivity, ac- 
cording to Breidenbargius, refrained from tak- 
ing strange wives, and therefore claimed to be 
of the pure stock of Abraham. Also Genist. 
He there nameth . . . .liners other sects, if they may 
beare that name : as the Genites or Genists, which stood 
vpon their stocke and kindred. 
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 149. 
geniting, n. See jenneting. 
genitival (jen-i-tl'val or jen'i-ti-val), a. [< 
genitive + -al.~\ Relating or pertaining to the 
genitive. 
genitive (jen'i-tiv), a. and M. [= D. genitief 
= G. Dan. Sw. genitiv, n. ; = F. genitif = Pr. 
genitiu = Sp. Pg. It. gtnitivo, < L. genitivus, usual- 
ly in classical L. spelled genetivus, of or belong- 
ing to birth ; in grammar, with or without casns, 
the genitive case (a mistranslation of Gr. ;/ ye- 
vix.il Trraovr, the generic or general case, yevtKof 
meaning also belonging to the family, also to 
generation, < ytvof = L. genus), < genitus, pp. of 
gignere, OL. genere, beget, produce : see geni- 
tal, genus.] I. a. In gram., pertaining to or in- 
dicating origin, source, possession, and the like : 
an epithet applied to a case in the declension of 
nouns, adjectives, pronouns, etc., which inEng- 
lish is called the possessive case, or to the rela- 
tion expressed by such a case : as, patris, ' of a 
father, a father's,' is the genitive case of the 
Latin noun pater, a father. 
What is your genitive case plural, William? 
Shak., M. W. of W., Iv. 1. 
II. n. In gram., a case in the declension of 
nouns, adjectives, pronouns, etc., expressing in 
the widest sense a relation of appurtenance 
between one thing and another, an adjectival 
relation of one noun to another, or more specifi- 
cally source, origin, possession, and the like ; in 
English grammar, the possessive case. 
The Latin genitimu is a mere blunder, for the Greek 
word genike could never mean genitivus. . . . Genike in 
Greek had a much wider, a much more philosophical 
meaning. It meant cams generalis, the general case, or 
rather the case which expresses the genus or kind. This 
is the real power of the genitive. If I say, ' a bird of the 
water,' ' of the water ' defines the genus to which a certain 
bird belongs ; it refers to the genus of water birds. 'Man 
of the mountains ' means a mountaineer. In phrases such 
as ' son of the father ' or ' father of the son,' the genitives 
have the same effect. They predicate something of the 
son or of the father, and if we distinguished between the 
sons of the father and the sons of the mother, the geni- 
tives would mark the class or genus to which the sons re- 
spectively belonged. Max Miiller, Sci. of Lang., iii. 
Abbreviated gen. 
genito-anal (jeii"i-t6-a'nal), a. [< genit(al) + 
anal.] In entom., pertaining to the genitals 
and the anus : as, the genito-anal ring. 
genitoerural (jen"i-tp-'kro'ral), a. [< genit(al) 
+ crural.'] Pertaining to the genitals and to 
the thigh : specifically applied to a branch of 
the second lumbar nerve which passes through 
the psoas muscle and is distributed to the geni- 
tals and parts of the thigh. Its two main di- 
visions are the genital and crural branches or 
nerves. 
geniton (jen'i-ton), n. Same as jenneting. 
Dorothy gave her the better half of an imperfect geniton 
apple. S. Judd, Margaret, ii. 1. 
genitor (jen'i-tor), w. [=F. geniteur= Sp. Pg. 
genitor = It. geniton; < L. gr.nitor, < i/i'/titus, pp. 
of gignere, OL. genere, beget, produce : see gen- 
157 
2487 
ital, genus.] 1. One who procreates; a sire; 
a progenitor. [Rare.] 
High genitors, unconscious did they cull 
Time's sweet first-fruits. Keats, Endymion, i. 
2f. pi. The genitals. 
[enitoriest (jen'i-to-riz), n. pi. [PI. of " 
l/Clll- 
tory, prop, adj., < L. genitor, < genitus, pp. of 
gignere, beget: see genitor.] The genitals. 
Howett. 
In primitive times, amongst other foul slanders spread 
against the Christians, one was, that they did adore the 
genitories of their priests. Bacon, Apophthegms, p. 213. 
genitO-urinary (jen"i-to-u'ri-na-ri), . [< gen- 
it(al) + urinary.] Same as urogenital. Genito- 
urinary duct, Sinus, etc. See the nouns. 
genitum (jen'i-tum), n. ; pi. genita (-ta). [< L. 
genitum, neut. of genitus, pp. of gignere, OL. ge- 
nere, beget: see genital, genus.] In matft., a geo- 
metrical figure generated by the movement of a 
point, line, plane, or figure, 
geniture (jen'i-tur), n. [< OF. geniture, F. geni- 
ture = Pr. Sp.~Pg. It. genitura, < L. genitura, 
< genitus, pp. of gignere, OL. genere, beget: 
see genital, genus.] 1. In astral., birth; na- 
tivity. 
Yes, he's lord of the geniture, 
Whether you examine it by Ptolemy's way, 
Or Messahalah's, Lael, or Alkindus. 
Fletcher (and others), Bloody Brother, iv. 2. 
This work, by merit first of fame secure, 
Is likewise happy in its geniture ; 
For since 'tis born when Charles ascends the throne, 
It shares at once his fortunes and its own. 
Dryden, To Sir Robert Howard. 
2. The power of procreation ; virility. E. D. 
It absumeth the geniture. 
Venner, Treatise of Tobacco, p. 416. 
3. pi. The genitals. E. D. 
genius (je'nius), n. ; pi. geniuses, genii (je'nius-ez, 
-nil). [< L. genius, the tutelar spirit of a person, 
spirit, inclination, wit, genius, lit. 'inborn na- 
ture' (nature is from the same root), < gignere, 
OL. genere, / gen, beget, produce: see genus."] 
1 . The ruling or predominant spirit of a place, 
person, or thing ; the power, principle, or influ- 
ence that determines character, conduct, or 
destiny (supposed by the ancients to be a tute- 
lar divinity, a good spirit, or an evil demon, 
usually striving with an opposing spirit for the 
mastery); that which controls, guides, or aids: 
as, my good genius came to the rescue ; his evil 
genius enticed him. [In this sense and the fol- 
lowing the plural is genii.'] 
Some say, the Genius so 
Cries, " Come ! " to him that instantly must die. 
Shak., T. and C., Iv. 4. 
The word genii hath by some writers been erroneously 
adopted for geniuses. Each is a plural of the same word 
genius, but in different senses. When genius in the sin- 
gular means a separate spirit or demon, good or bad, the 
plural is genii ; when it means mental abilities, or a per- 
son eminently possessed of these, the plural is geniuses. 
Q. Campbell, Philos. of Rhetoric, II. iii. 3. 
A fairy shield your Genius made, 
And gave you on your natal day. 
Tennyson, Margaret. 
After the ttiird century, even the artistic type of the 
guardian genius reappeared in that of the guardian angel. 
Lecky, Europ. Morals, I. 344. 
His [Shakspere's] evil angel, rhyme, yielding step by 
step and note by note to the strong advance of that better 
genius who came to lead him into the loftier path of Mar- 
lowe. Swinburne, Shakespeare, p. 32. 
2. A disembodied spirit regarded as affecting 
human beings in certain ways, but not as con- 
nected with any one individually. 
The Abyssinians, to a man, are fearful of the night, un- 
willing to travel, and, above all, to fight in that season, 
when they imagine the world is in possession of certain 
genii, averse to intercourse with men. 
Bruce, Source of the Nile, II. 26. 
3. A type or symbol ; a concrete representa- 
tive, as of an influence or a characteristic; a 
generic exemplification. 
I do remember him at Clement's Inn, like a man made 
after supper of a cheese-paring : ... he was the very ge- 
nius of famine. Shale., 2 Hen. IV., iii. 2. 
A golden lizard the very genius of desolate stillness 
had stopped breathless irpon the threshold of one cabin. 
Bret Harte, Baby Sylvester (Tale of the Argonauts). 
4. Prevailing spirit or inclination; distinguish- 
ing proclivity, bent, or tendency, as of a per- 
son, place, time, institution, etc.; special apti- 
tude or intellectual quality; intrinsic charac- 
teristic or qualification : as, a genius for poetry, 
or for diplomacy ; the genius of Christianity, of 
the Elizabethan period, of the American Con- 
stitution, of the Vatican. 
Taking with him his two Sisters, he retired into a Mon- 
astery, they into a Nunnery. This does not suit with the 
Genius of an Englishman, who loves not to pull off his 
Clothes till he goes to bed. Uowett, Letters, I. iii. 11. 
genius 
Every ae has a kind of universal genius, which inclines 
those that live ill it to some particular studies. 
Dryden, Essay on Dram. Poesy. 
No woman can despise them [ceremonies] with impu- 
nity. Their geniits delights in ceremonies, in forms, in 
decorating life with manners, with proprieties, order, and 
grace. Emerson, Woman. 
It is this tendency on the part of the collective speakers 
of a language to approve or reject a proposed change ac- 
cording to its conformity with their already subsisting 
usages that we are accustomed to call by the fanciful 
name " the genius of a language." 
Whitney, Encyc. Brit., XVIII. 776. 
Human nature has a much greater genius for sameness 
than for originality. Louiell, Study Windows, p. 63. 
5. Exalted mental power distinguished by in- 
stinctive aptitude, and independent of tuition ; 
phenomenal capability, derived from inspira- 
tion or exaltation, for intellectual creation or 
expression ; that constitution of mind or per- 
fection of faculties which enables a person to 
excel others in mental perception, comprehen- 
sion, discrimination, and expression, especially 
in literature, art, and science. 
By genius I would understand that power, or rather 
those powers of the mind, which are capable of penetrat- 
ing into all things within our reach and knowledge, and 
of distinguishing their essential differences. 
Fielding, Tom Jones, ix. 1. 
Genius always imports something inventive or creative. 
H. Blair, Rhetoric, iii. 
We owe to genius always the same debt, of lifting the 
curtain from the common, and showing us that divinities 
are sitting disguised in the seeming gang of gypsies and 
peddlers. Emerson, Works and Days. 
Talent is that which is in a man's power ; genius is that 
in whose power a man is. 
Lowell, Among my Books, 1st ser., p. 35<J. 
6. A person having such mental power; a per- 
son of general or special intellectual faculties 
developed in a phenomenal degree. [In this 
sense the plural is geniuses. It was formerly 
also genii.'] 
Homer was the greater genius, Virgil the better artist. 
Pope, Iliad, Pref. 
The true genius is a mind of large general powers, acci- 
dentally determined to some particular direction. 
Johnson. 
In building that house, he won for himself, or for the 
nameless genius whom he set to work, a place in the his- 
tory of art. E. A. Freeman, Venice, p. 141. 
Genius loci. [L.] The presiding divinity of a place; 
hence, the pervading spirit of a place or an institution, as 
of a college. See def. 1. = Syn. 5. Abilities, Gifts, Talents, 
Parts, Aptitude, Faculty, Capacity, Genius, Ingenuity, 
Cleverness, all indicate special or excellent power for do- 
ing work that is more or less intellectual. Abilities is 
the most general and common word for intellectual pow- 
ers of the active sort, intellectual competence to do ef- 
fective work ; abilities are always either acquired or de- 
veloped. (See ability.) Gifts are strictly endowments, 
or abilities regarded as conferred by the Creator. (See 
acquirement.) Talents conies to the same idea, its Bibli- 
cal origin (Mat. xxv. 14-30) making the powers seem pri- 
marily intrusted to one for use, or at least given like 
money. Parts is regaining its former popularity and 
dignity, which it lost for a time ; in the last century it 
stood for talents or gifts, excellent or superior endow- 
ments : as, he is a man of parts, or he is a man of good 
natural parts, the latter perhaps implying a failure to 
develop one's gifts. Aptitude is either natural bias or 
special fitness or skill ; it may be native talent or dis- 
ciplined ability. Faculty is cultivated aptitude, a high- 
ly trained power of doing something. The distinction be- 
tween a faculty for and the faculty of should be noticed, 
the former being the kind of faculty now under consid- 
eration and the latter a bodily faculty, as the faculty of 
speech, hearing, etc. Capacity is receptive power : as, 
capacity to learn ; it is a power of acquiring. "It is most 
remarkable in the different degrees of facility with which 
different men acquire a language." Sir J. Mackintosh. 
(See ability.) Genius is extraordinarily developed faculty, 
in many directions or in one ; it is especially the creative 
power of original conceptionsand combinations ; it belongs 
with talents or gifts in seeming primarily bestowed, not ac- 
quired, and it includes capacity and aptitude in their high- 
est forms. Ingenuity is lower than genius, in seeming cul- 
tivated, not bestowed, in seeming less superhuman or phe- 
nomenal, and often in serving less exalted purposes : as, 
the ingenuity of the mechanic, of the rhetorician, of the 
sophist. Cleverness is still lower, being a sort of mental 
dexterity, which is evinced in facility in learning or felicity 
in expression ; it may be a merely manual dexterity. (See 
quotation from Coleridge under cleverness.) It should be 
noticed that all these words, except parts, may be used in 
the singular for skill or power or natural bent in some 
particular direction : as, ability in debate, a talent for 
drawing, the gift of conversation, an aptitude for scien- 
tific research, ingenuity in argument, etc. See wisdom 
and astute. 
As we advance in life, we learn the limits of our abili- 
ties. Froude, Short Studies on Great Subjects, II. 313. 
Conversation in its better part 
May be esteem'd a gift, and not an art. 
Cowper, Conversation, 1. 4. 
The man of talents possesses them like so many tools, 
does his job with them, and there an end ; but the man of 
genius is possessed by it, and it makes him into a book or 
a life according to its whim. 
Lmvell, Fireside Travels, p. 64. 
All my endeavors to distinguish myself were only for 
want of a great title and fortune, that I might be used like 
a lord by those who have an opinion of my parts; whether 
