Reptilia to Require
Reptilia
(||Rep*til"i*a) n. pl. [NL.] (Zoöl.) A class of air-breathing oviparous vertebrates, usually covered
with scales or bony plates. The heart generally has two auricles and one ventricle. The development of
the young is the same as that of birds.
It is nearly related in many respects to Aves, or birds. The principal existing orders are Testidunata or
Chelonia Crocodilia, Lacertilla Ophidia and Rhynchocephala; the chief extinct orders are Dinosauria,
Theremorpha, Mosasauria, Pterosauria, Plesiosauria, Ichtyosauria.
Reptilian
(Rep*til"i*an) a. Belonging to the reptiles.
Reptilian age (Geol.), that part of geological time comprising the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous
periods, and distinguished as that era in which the class of reptiles attained its highest expansion; —
called also the Secondary or Mezozoic age.
Reptilian
(Rep*til"i*an), n. (Zoöl.) One of the Reptilia; a reptile.
Republic
(Re*pub"lic) n. [F. république, L. respublica commonwealth; res a thing, an affair + publicus,
publica, public. See Real, a., and Public.]
1. Common weal. [Obs.] B. Jonson.
2. A state in which the sovereign power resides in the whole body of the people, and is exercised by
representatives elected by them; a commonwealth. Cf. Democracy, 2.
In some ancient states called republics the sovereign power was exercised by an hereditary aristocracy
or a privileged few, constituting a government now distinctively called an aristocracy. In some there
was a division of authority between an aristocracy and the whole body of the people except slaves. No
existing republic recognizes an exclusive privilege of any class to govern, or tolerates the institution of
slavery.
Republic of letters, The collective body of literary or learned men.
Republican
(Re*pub"lic*an) a. [F. républicain.]
1. Of or pertaining to a republic.
The Roman emperors were republican magistrates named by the senate.
Macaulay. 2. Consonant with the principles of a republic; as, republican sentiments or opinions; republican manners.
Republican party. (U.S. Politics) (a) An earlier name of the Democratic party when it was opposed
to the Federal party. Thomas Jefferson was its great leader. (b) One of the existing great parties. It
was organized in 1856 by a combination of voters from other parties for the purpose of opposing the
extension of slavery, and in 1860 it elected Abraham Lincoln president.
Republican
(Re*pub"lic*an) n.
1. One who favors or prefers a republican form of government.
2. (U.S.Politics) A member of the Republican party.
3. (Zoöl.) (a) The American cliff swallow. The cliff swallows build their nests side by side, many together.
(b) A South African weaver bird These weaver birds build many nests together, under a large rooflike
shelter, which they make of straw.
Red republican. See under Red.
