formatrix
nounEtymology Learned borrowing from Late Latin fōrmātrīx. By surface analysis, form + -ate + -trix.
1
Obsolete A formative faculty.
- By which laſt Obſervables, we ſee that there may be very pretty body ſhap’d and concreeted by Mechanical principles, without the leaſt ſhew or probability of any other ſeminal formatrix.1665, R[obert] Hooke, “Obſerv[ation]. XX. Of blue Mould, and of the firſt Principles of Vegetation ariſing from Putrefaction.”, in Micrographia: Or Some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies Made by Magnifying Glasses. […], London: […] Jo[hn] Martyn, and Ja[mes] Allestry, printers to the Royal Society, […], →OCLC, page 130: