Polygamy

polygamy: see marriage.

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polygamy

Marriage to more than one spouse at a time. Although the term may also refer to polyandry (marriage to more than one man), it is often used as a synonym for polygyny (marriage to more than one woman), which appears to have once been common in most of the world and is still found widely in some cultures. Polygyny seems to offer the husband increased prestige, economic stability, and sexual companionship in cultures where pregnancy and lactation dictate abstinence, while offering the wives a shared labour burden and an institutionalized role where a surplus of unmarried women might otherwise exist. The polygynous family is often fraught with bickering and sexual jealousy; to preserve harmony, one wife may be accorded seniority, and each wife and her children may have separate living quarters. Polyandry is relatively rare; in parts of the Himalayas, where brothers may marry a single woman, the practice serves to limit the number of descendants and keep limited land within the household.

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polygamy

1. the practice of having more than one wife or husband at the same time

2. 

a. the condition of having male, female, and hermaphrodite flowers on the same plant

b. the condition of having these different types of flower on separate plants of the same species

3. the practice in male animals of having more than one mate during one breeding season

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Polygamy

Bluebeard

chevalier slays his six wives; seventh evades similar fate. [Fr. Fairy Tale: Harvey, 96–97]

David

had many wives. [O.T.: I Samuel 25:43–44; II Samuel 3:2–5]

Draupadi

princess won by Arjuna, brings her home as the wife of all five brothers. [Hindu Lit.: Mahabharata]

Islam

religion permits four wives. [Islam: WB, A:549]

Lamech

first man to have two wives. [O.T.: Genesis 4:19–20]

Mongut of Siam, King 9000

wives and concubines. [Thai. Hist.: Wallechinsky, 279]

Mormons

religious sect; once advocated plural marriage. [Am. Hist.: NCE, 1833]

Muhammad

had a total of ten wives and ten or fifteen concubines. [Islam: Brewer Dictionary, 614]

Solomon 700

wives, princesses, and 300 concubines. [O.T.: I Kings 11:1–8]

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Polygamy 

(1) In animals, a relationship between the sexes whereby one male mates with several females (polygyny) or one female mates with several males (polyandry). Polygyny is characteristic of many mammals. In eared seals (fur seals, sea lions), the dominant male herds a harem of 15 to 80 females, to which several younger males attach themselves. Ungulates (goats, rams, horses, deer) also form herds consisting of a dominant male and several females and other males. Polygyny is characteristic in less marked form of some rodents and insectivores that do not form harems and herds, several birds (many Galliformes, Trochili, Limicolae), and some invertebrates (many insects). Polyandry in animals occurs less frequently; it is observed in some birds, including phalaropus, Turnix, Crypturiformes).

(2) In plants, the simultaneous appearance in the same species of plants of bisexual and unisexual flowers. Both types of flowers may be found on the same or on different specimens (in various combinations). Such plants, which include ash, maple, buckwheat, and snakeweed (Polygonum bistorta), are said to be polygamous.