MATING

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does mating mean? 

• MATING (noun)
  The noun MATING has 1 sense:

1. the act of pairing a male and female for reproductive purposes

  Familiarity information: MATING used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MATING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of pairing a male and female for reproductive purposes

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

conjugation; coupling; mating; pairing; sexual union; union

Context example:

the mating of some species occurs only in the spring

Hypernyms ("mating" is a kind of...):

sex; sex activity; sexual activity; sexual practice (activities associated with sexual intercourse)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "mating"):

assortative mating (mating of individuals having more traits in common than likely in random mating)

disassortative mating (mating of individuals having traits more dissimilar than likely in random mating)

cross; crossbreeding; crossing; hybridisation; hybridization; hybridizing; interbreeding ((genetics) the act of mixing different species or varieties of animals or plants and thus to produce hybrids)

inbreeding (the act of mating closely related individuals)

service; servicing (the act of mating by male animals)

Derivation:

mate (engage in sexual intercourse)

 Context examples 

Deviation from this ratio indicates that some force is acting on the population (e.g., selection, mutation, migration, genetic drift, non-random mating).

(Hardy-Weinberg Distribution, NCI Thesaurus)

Any strain of mouse that is the product of a mating between close relatives.

(Inbred Mouse Strains, NCI Thesaurus)

The study of the genetic factors of behavioral phenotypes such as eating or mating activity, substance abuse, social attitudes, violence, and mental abilities.

(Behavioral Genetics, NCI Thesaurus)

A strain that has been maintained by sibling (sister x brother) matings for 20 or more consecutive generations.

(Inbred Strain, NCI Thesaurus)

A zebrafish line derived from the mating of two lines, A and B, obtained in Albany, Oregon.

(AB Zebrafish, NCI Thesaurus)

"This will have consequences for ecological and evolutionary interactions, including mating, predation, and habitat selection."

(Study considers sensory impacts of environmental change on ocean species, National Science Foundation)

The study found that 54 percent of striped maple trees changed mating type over a four-year period, with some switching multiple times.

(Striped maple trees often change mating types, with females more likely to die, National Science Foundation)

“The time and energy finches spend spooking themselves by fleeing when they are not in danger could be better spent looking for food, mating, laying eggs, and rearing their young.”

(A decade after the predators have gone, Galapagos Island finches are still being spooked, University of Cambridge)

In particular, the part of the genome that defines the sex of the butterflies is protected from the effects of inter-species mating.

(Butterflies are genetically wired to choose a mate that looks just like them, University of Cambridge)

Canine transmissible venereal tumour’ is a cancer that spreads between dogs through the transfer of living cancer cells, primarily during mating.

(The curious tale of the cancer ‘parasite’ that sailed the seas, University of Cambridge)