zoologize

English

Alternative forms

• zoologise

Etymology

zoology +‎ -ize

Verb

zoologize (third-person singular simple present zoologizes, present participle zoologizing, simple past and past participle zoologized)

1. (intransitive) To study zoology, especially by collecting animals to be studied.
   • 1931, Marie Beuzeville Byles, By Cargo Boat & Mountain: The Unconventional Experiences of a Woman on Tramp Round the World, page 141:

     There it erects tents capable of holding about one hundred and fifty people, and there the members and their friends gather for a fortnight to climb mountains, botanize, zoologize, or merely enjoy life.

   • 1995, Charles Kingsley, Brian Alderson, The Water-babies, →ISBN, page xxxiv:

     She is later joined by CK, who delights in the opportunity to zoologize on the sea-shore.

   • 2011, William J. Mitsch, James G. Gosselink, Wetlands, →ISBN:

     Broaden your horizons beyond the field that you were trained in so that you resist the ever-present temptation to over-engineer, over-botanize, or over-zoologize the wetlands that you create and restore.

2. (intransitive) To discuss zoology.
   • 1866, John Holmes Agnew, Walter Hilliard, The Eclectic Magazine - Volume 4, page 188:

     The only compensation he could get seems to have been to botanize and zoologize, as it were, on his visitors.

   • 1887, The Current - Issues 159-184, page 419:

     Somehow, wherever Sue was, Ned always seemed in the same vicinity, discussing fiddler crabs or something equally slimy, and they seem likely to zoologize through life together.