Also 9 simply lusus. [L. lūsus nātūræ a playing or sport of Nature.] A supposed sportive action of Nature to which the origin of marked variations from the normal type (of an animal, plant, etc.) was formerly ascribed. Chiefly concr., a natural production deviating markedly from the normal type, or having the appearance of being a result of sportive design; a ‘freak of nature.’
a. 1661. Fuller, Worthies, Glouc. (1662), I. 351. Others more probably account them [fossils] to be Lusus Naturæ.
1726. Swift, Gulliver, II. iii. They … concluded unanimously, that I was only relplum scalcath, which is interpreted literally lusus naturæ.
1767. Gooch, Treat. Wounds, I. 180. Doctor Hunter … exhibits many arms … shewing this Lusus Naturæ.
1816. Brackenridge, Jrnl. Voy. Missouri, 46. The wild turkey is invariably black: although, it is possible, that by some lusus naturae, there may be white.
1833. Sir C. Bell, Hand (1834), 35. The animals of the Antediluvian world were not monsters; there was no lusus or extravagance.
1845. Ford, Handbk. Spain, I. 334. A lusus naturæ called el Torcal, an assemblage of stones which look like a deserted town.
1850. Mrs. Browning, Lost Bower, xlviii.
| I have found a bower to-day, | |
| A green lusus—fashioned half in | |
| Chance, and half in Nature’s play. |
1880. Gray, Struct. Bot., 419/1. Lusus, a ‘sport’ or variation from a seed or bud.
1885. Manch. Exam., 18 Feb., 3/2. It Is a veritable curiosity—a sort of fossilised lusus naturæ.
