1.
[syn: telegraph plant, semaphore plant, Codariocalyx motorius, Desmodium motorium, Desmodium gyrans]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Moving \Mov"ing\, a.
1. Changing place or posture; causing motion or action; as, a
moving car, or power.
[1913 Webster]
2. Exciting movement of the mind or feelings; adapted to move
the sympathies, passions, or affections; touching;
pathetic; as, a moving appeal.
[1913 Webster]
I sang an old moving story. --Coleridge.
[1913 Webster]
Moving force (Mech.), a force that accelerates, retards, or
deflects the motion of a body.
Moving plant (Bot.), a leguminous plant (Desmodium
gyrans); -- so called because its leaflets have a
distinct automatic motion.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Telegraph plant \Telegraph plant\ (Bot.),
A tick trefoil (Meibomia gyrans formerly Desmodium
gyrans), native of the East Indies; it is a leguminous plant
whose lateral leaflets jerk up and down like the arms of a
semaphore, and also rotate on their axes.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
Desmodium gyrans
n 1: erect tropical Asian shrub whose small lateral leaflets
rotate on their axes and jerk up and down under the
influence of sunshine [syn: telegraph plant, semaphore
plant, Codariocalyx motorius, Desmodium motorium,
Desmodium gyrans]