taxis
9.0
Movement by a living thing toward something helpful or away from something harmful
- noun
- /ˈtæksɪs/
- Specialized
:
taxis
- The birds exhibited taxis as they flew away from the approaching storm.
Examples
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Taxis pull up and idle at a rank, bringing travelers to their flights.
Fiction book (2001) -
Pound has here a kind of abbreviated para taxis, that is a syntax of series.
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OUTSIDE - THE TRANSPORT TAXIS
Fiction book (1993) -
In response to the smell of food, the ants showed taxis by moving toward the picnic area.
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The child displayed taxis when she reached out to touch the flower.
Surface Forms
Etymology
The word taxis comes from a Greek word taxis meaning 'order' or 'arrangement', and it is the same root as tactic in 'tactics'. In biology taxis is when an animal or cell moves toward or away from something, so it is like 'arranging' itself in relation to light, chemicals, or other signals.
