3. (Biol.) The plan or fundamental structure on which a natural group of animals or plants or their systems of organs are assumed to have been constructed; as, the vertebrate archetype.
Ar`che*typ"ic*al (&?;), a. Relating to an archetype; archetypal.
||Ar*che"us (&?;), n. [LL. archus, Gr. 'archai^os ancient, primeval, fr. 'archh` beginning. See Archi-, pref.] The vital principle or force which (according to the Paracelsians) presides over the growth and continuation of living beings; the anima mundi or plastic power of the old philosophers. [Obs.] Johnson.
Ar"chi- (&?;). [L., archi-, Gr. 'archi-, a prefix which is from the same root as 'a`rchein to be first, to begin; 'archh the first place, beginning; 'archo`s chief. Cf. AS. arce-, erce-, OHG. erzi-, G. erz- .] A prefix signifying chief, arch; as, architect, archiepiscopal. In Biol. and Anat. it usually means primitive, original, ancestral; as, archipterygium, the primitive fin or wing.
||Ar`chi*an*nel"i*da (&?;), n. pl. [NL.; pref. archi- + annelida.] (Zoöl.) A group of Annelida remarkable for having no external segments or distinct ventral nerve ganglions.
Ar"chi*a`ter (&?;), n. [L. archiatrus, Gr. &?;; pref. &?; + &?; physician, &?; to heal.] Chief physician; -- a term applied, on the continent of Europe, to the first or body physician of princes and to the first physician of some cities. P. Cyc.
||Ar`chi*blas"tu*la (&?;), n. [Pref. archi + blastula.] (Biol.) A hollow blastula, supposed to be the primitive form; a cœloblastula.
Ar"chi*cal (&?;), a. [Gr. &?; able to govern, fr. &?; beginning, government. See Arch-, pref.] Chief; primary; primordial. [Obs.] Cudworth.
Ar`chi*di*ac"o*nal (&?;), a. [L. archidiaconus, Gr. &?;, equiv. to E. archdeacon.] Of or pertaining to an archdeacon.
This offense is liable to be censured in an archidiaconal visitation.
Johnson.
Ar`chi*e*pis"co*pa*cy (&?;), n. [Pref. archi- + episcopacy.] 1. That form of episcopacy in which the chief power is in the hands of archbishops.