Emily Dickinson Lexicon

VI-VIP'AR-OUS, a. [L. vivus, alive, and pario, to bear.]

1. Producing young in a living state, as all mammifers; as distinguished from oviparous, producing eggs, as fowls. If fowls were viviparous, it is difficult to see how the female would fly during pregnancy.
2. In botany, producing its offspring alive, either by bulbs instead of seeds, or by the seeds themselves germinating on the plant, instead of falling, as they usually do; as, a viviparous plant. – Martyn.