[an.i.mal] n [L, fr. animale, neut. of animalis animate, fr. anima soul--more at animate] (14c) 1: any of a kingdom (Animalia) of living things including many-celled organisms and often many of the single-celled ones (as protozoans) that typically differ from plants in having cells without cellulose walls, in lacking chlorophyll and the capacity for photosynthesis, in requiring more complex food materials (as proteins), in being organized to a greater degree of complexity, and in having the capacity for spontaneous movement and rapid motor responses to stimulation
2. a: one of the lower animals as distinguished from human beings b: mammal; broadly: vertebrate
3: a human being considered chiefly as physical or nonrational; also: this nature
4: an individual with a particular interest or aptitude "a political ~"
5: matter, thing "the theater ... is an entirely different ~ --Arthur Miller"; also: creature 1c -- an.i.mal.like adj
[2]animal adj (1615) 1: of, relating to, resembling, or derived from animals
2. a: of or relating to the physical or sentient as contrasted with the intellectual or rational b: sensual, fleshly
3: of or relating to the animal pole of an egg or to the part from which ectoderm normally develops syn see carnal -- an.i.mal.ly adv