warm-blooded

See also: warmblooded

English

Alternative forms

• warmblooded

Etymology

From warm +‎ blooded.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Adjective

warm-blooded (comparative more warm-blooded or warmer-blooded, superlative most warm-blooded or warmest-blooded)

1. (zoology) Maintaining a relatively constant and warm body temperature, regardless of the ambient temperature; endothermic.
   • 1858 October, [George Henry Lewes], “Animal Heat”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume LXXXIV, number DXVI, Edinburgh: William Blackwood & Sons, page 427, column 1:

     The cold-blooded animals are all feeble breathers, and the most energetic breathers are the warmest-blooded. A mollusc, a fish, a frog, a quadruped, and a bird, represent the various stages of this correspondence.

   • 1925 September, Glover Morrill Allen, “Feathers”, in Birds and Their Attributes, Boston, Mass.: Marshall Jones Company, published 1937 February, page 37:

     Moreover, instead of hibernating like our northern reptiles, they [birds] are able to remain active all winter, even in arctic latitudes, so long as sufficient food is available to maintain the body. This retention of heat increases the body temperature, and implies an increase as well of the creature’s activity, so that birds in addition to being the warmest-blooded animals are at the same time the quickest and most active.

   • 2016, Barry Eisler, Livia Lone, Seattle, Wash.: Thomas & Mercer, →ISBN, page 6:

     “It’s getting chilly,” the Asian chick said, maybe just to hear the sound of her own voice. […] / “Oh, I don’t know. Feels all right to me.” / “I guess you’re warmer-blooded than I am. Could I have my sweatshirt now?”

   • 2016, Fiona Buckley [pseudonym; Valerie Anand], The Heretic’s Creed (The Ursula Blanchard Mysteries), Sutton, Surrey: Crème de la Crime, →ISBN, page 73:

     We stood there, shivering, colder even than when we had been on our horses, for horses are warmer-blooded than their riders, and one always gains heat from them.

2. (idiomatic) Passionate.
   • 2003, Adele Griffin, Witch Twins and Melody Malady, New York, N.Y.: Hyperion Books for Children, →ISBN, page 27:

     Claire jumped from her chair and smiled the warmest-blooded smile that she could muster.

   • 2006, Donald Bain, A Question of Murder (Murder, She Wrote), New York, N.Y.: Signet, New American Library, →ISBN, page 35:

     Chasseur said, “Murder is a grisly, nasty business, Jessica. The female species simply doesn’t have the genetic makeup to deal sensibly with it. Murder is a cold-blooded act. Women are, by nature, warmer-blooded than men, which is why they’re so attractive to the male of the species.”

Synonyms

• endothermic
• homeothermic

Antonyms

• cold-blooded
• ectothermic

Translations

maintaining constant body temperature — see endothermic

passionate

• Bulgarian: темпераментен (bg) (temperamenten)
• Finnish: kuumaverinen

See also

• hot-blooded