zoologizehttp://www.oed.com/dictionary/zoologize_v%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_usezoologize, v.
Revised 2017

zoologizeverb

  1. 1.
    1830–
    transitive. To give a zoological character to; to present or treat as animal-like; to consider in zoological terms; (also) to treat (a subject, question, etc.) in a zoological manner.
    1. 1830
      He [sc. Landseer] zoologizes mankind.
      Spectator 7 August 592/1
    2. 1893
      M. Renan attempted a natural history of religions. De Lisle zoologised poetry.
      Review of Reviews December 620/1
    3. 1912
      Sex psychology may be over-emphasized..or even zoölogized.
      Med. Council December 437/2
    4. 1999
      The..danger of zoologizing child psychology.
      M. J. Hall, translation of L. S. Vygotsky in R. W. Rieber & D. K. Robbins, Collected Works L. S. Vygotsky vol. VI. i. 5
    5. 2001
      If other novelists are sometimes guilty of anthropomorphizing animals, Dreiser..indulges in zoologizing human beings.
      Hudson Review vol. 54 26
  2. 2.
    1852–
    intransitive. To engage in the study of zoology; esp. to look for animals in their natural habitats for the purpose of recording or studying them zoologically. Also occasionally transitive: to record or study (an animal or animals) zoologically; to record or study the fauna of (an area). Cf. botanize v.
    1. 1852
      Zoologizing’ in Black Park, Bucks., (a place dear to London Entomologists,) in company with my late lamented friend.
      Naturalist vol. 2 217
    2. 1861
      He had botanized and zoologized..from the Shetlands to the Channel Isles.
      A. Geikie, Memoir of Edward Forbes ix. 267
    3. 1890
      I have just heard that Charles Lister..has died of fever in Brazil, where he was zoologising.
      G. J. Romanes in Life & Letters (1896) 256
    4. 1901
      To Zanzibar to zoologize zebras.
      Brainerd (Minnesota) Daily Disp. 14 December 7/6
    5. 1911
      While he is farming he zoologizes, and while he is zoologizing he is farming.
      Alton (Illinois) Evening Telegraph 30 May 8/3
    6. 1961
      Country gentlemen botanized and zoologized in the same spirit that they hunted and rode.
      Chapters Western Civilization (ed. 3) vol. II. 257
    7. 2004
      We do follow Darwin as he travels across the world..zoologizing.
      Journal Hist. Biology vol. 37 209
    8. 2007
      You resist the ever-present temptation to over-engineer, over-botanize, or over-zoologize the wetlands.
      W. J. Mitsch & J. G. Gosselink, Wetlands (ed. 4) xii. 378

zoologize, v. was revised in June 2017.

zoologize, v. was last modified in July 2023.