[ad. F. taxonomie (De Candolle, 1813), irreg. f. Gr. τάξις arrangement, order (see TAXIS) + -νομία distribution: see TAXO- and -NOMY. See also TAXINOMY.] Classification, esp. in relation to its general laws or principles; that department of science, or of a particular science or subject, which consists in or relates to classification.
[1813. De Candolle, Theor. Elem. de la Botanique.]
1828. in Webster.
1832. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 7), V. 70/2. Taxonomy is that branch of botany which has for its object the combination of all our observations on plants, so as to form a system or classification.
1839. G. Roberts, Dict. Geol., Taxonomy, the classification or putting things in their proper order.
1852. Dana, Crust., I. 59. The long posterior legs of certain Maioid species have been allowed to have the same value in Taxonomy.
1872. Coues, N. Amer. Birds, 49.
So Taxonomer, a scientific classifier; Taxonomic, -ical adjs., pertaining or relating to taxonomy, classificatory (hence Taxonomically adv.); Taxonomist = taxonomer. (See also taxinomic, taxinomist, s.v. TAXINOMY.)
1885. Athenæum, 1 Aug., 146/2. It is now generally admitted by *taxonomers that their affinities are … close.
1897. Naturalist, 94. One instance wherein the author differs from most recent taxonomers.
1852. Dana, Crust., I. 10. We deem it of so little *taxonomic importance.
1894. Newton, Dict. Birds, 820. The taxonomic position of the Palamedeidæ … has been much debated.
1875. C. C. Blake, Zool., Pref. A sub-class which vindicates the value of its *taxonomical character by its numerical superiority.
1880. Huxley, in Times, 25 Dec., 4/1. The palæontological facts which have come to light … have completely broken down existing taxonomical conceptions.
1899. Nature, 14 Sept., 460/1. To successfully handle *taxonomically groups so dissimilarly ordained as the Bony Fishes and Echinoderms.
1872. Huxley, Anat. Inv. Anim., xii. 656. The views of *Taxonomists are undergoing … incessant modifications.
1904. Athenæum, 6 Aug., 175/3. Then the pendulum swung in the opposite direction:… field botanists were placed on a level with postage stamp collectors, taxonomists were looked on as laborious triflers.
