Dictionary.net

A more or less spherical and transparent mass of granular protoplasm, which by a process of multiplication and growth develops into a mass of cells, constituting a new individual like the parent; an egg, spore, germ, or germ cell. See Illust.

A more or less spherical and transparent mass of granular protoplasm, which by a process of multiplication and growth develops into a mass of cells, constituting a new individual like the parent; an egg, spore, germ, or germ cell. See Illust.

A female germ cell extruded from the OVARY at OVULATION.

A seed; an egg in an early stage.

The egg or female sexual cell, from which, when fecundated by union with the male element, a new individual is developed. It is a simple cell, but its parts have received special names; the protoplasm is called the vitellus or yolk, the ectoplasm is the zona pellucida or zona radiata, and the cell membrane is the vitelline membrane; the nucleus is the germinal vesicle and the nucleolus the germinal spot. In the Ovipara the yolk consists very largely of nutritive material which does not enter into the segmentation process of development but is reserved for the nourishment of the embryo; such an ovum is called meroblastic or lecithal. In the Vivipara, the embryo receives its nourishment through the placenta and the yolk is formative only, containing little or no nutritive material; such an ovum is called holoblastic or alecithal.

Egg-cell which fecundates upon contact with semen during coitus.

An egg: (anat.) the body in which after impregnation the development of the fetus takes place:-pl. OVA.

The body in the ovary which when impregnated, becomes the embryo, and develops into the foetus; an egg-shaped ornament carved on the contour of the ovolo.

An egg; the part of an animal body where the development of the foetus takes place; in arch., an egg-shaped ornament.

A female germ cell.

The eggs of poultry are chiefly used as food. The different parts are, likewise, employed in medicine. The shell, auraucum, Aurantum, (F.) Coque ou Coquille d'oeuf, calcined, is esteemed an absorbent. The Oil of the egg is emollient, and is used, externally, to burns and chaps. The Yolk or Yelk of the egg-Vitellum seu Vitellus ovi, Lecithos-renders oils, &c., miscible with water. Eggs, when light boiled, are easy of digestion; but, when very hard-boiled or fried, they are more rebellious.Mix the yolks of the eggs first with the water, the oil and the sugar, stirring constantly. Then add the brandy little and little, until a smooth fluid is formed. It is an agreeable mode of giving brandy in adynamic states. In pharmacy, white of egg, which consists chiefly of albumen, is used for clarifying syrups, &c. Yolk of egg, (F.) Jaune d'oeuf, beaten up with warm water and sugar, and aromatized with orange-flower water, forms an emulsion, which is emollient, and known under the name Lait de poule or chicken's milk. Anatomists give the name Ona, Ovula, Ovules, (F.) Oeufs, to round vesicles, containing a humour similar to the yolk of egg, which are situate in the ovaries of the female, and when fecundated, constitute the rudiments of the foetus. During gestation, the embryo and its enveloping membranes retain the name Ovum, (F.) Oeuf. The changes induced in the mammalia after impregnation greatly resemble those in the bird.

Testicle-o. Hystericum, see Clavus hystericus.

L. for Egg.

Female reproductive cell.

The large nucleated cell formed in the generative organs which is capable of development into an organism similar to the parent. In its young stage it is a typical cell, consisting of a mass of naked protoplasm containing a nucleus and a nucleolus; at a more advanced stage of development (a) an inclosing membrane or membranes (the vitelline membrane, the zona pellucida, and in some cases a shell), (b) the vitellus, (c) the nucleus (germinal vesicle), and (d) the nucleolus (germinal spot). The human o. is about 1/5 mm. in diameter, and, as with the ova of higher animals generally, is produced only by the female and must be fertilized by union with a spermatozoid before it is. capable of developing into an organism like its parent, [Lat.]

n. [Latin, Greek] The body formed by the female, in which, after impregnation, the development of the fetus takes place.