Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun (used with a singular verb)
- Biology, Statistics. biostatistics.
- biometry(def 1).
- the process by which a person’s unique physical and other traits are detected and recorded by an electronic device or system as a means of confirming identity: Scanning of the human iris is a reliable form of biometrics.
“application of mathematics to biology,” 1902, from biometric (also see -ics); slightly earlier in this sense was biometry (1901), which was coined by Whewell and used by him and others with a sense of “calculation of life expectancy” (1831).
The measuring and analysis of such physical attributes as facial features and voice or retinal scans. This technology can be used to define an individual’s unique identity, often for security purposes.