SPORE

spore

(noun) a small usually single-celled asexual reproductive body produced by many nonflowering plants and fungi and some bacteria and protozoans and that are capable of developing into a new individual without sexual fusion; “a sexual spore is formed after the fusion of gametes”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

spore (plural spores)

A reproductive particle, usually a single cell, released by a fungus, alga, or plant that may germinate into another.

A thick resistant particle produced by a bacterium or protist to survive in harsh or unfavorable conditions.

Verb

spore (third-person singular simple present spores, present participle sporing, simple past and past participle spored)

To produce spores.

Anagrams

• OPers., Peros, Perso-, Soper, Spero, opers, pores, poser, preso, pro se, prose, reops, repos, ropes, soper

Source: Wiktionary

Spore, n. Etym: [Gr. Sperm.]

1. (Bot.) (a) One of the minute grains in flowerless plants, which are analogous to seeds, as serving to reproduce the species.

Note: Spores are produced differently in the different classes of cryptogamous plants, and as regards their nature are often so unlike that they have only their minuteness in common. The peculiar spores of diatoms (called auxospores) increase in size, and at length acquire a siliceous coating, thus becoming new diatoms of full size. Compare Macrospore, Microspore, Oöspore, Restingspore, Sphærospore, Swarmspore, Tetraspore, Zoöspore, and Zygospore. (b) An embryo sac or embryonal vesicle in the ovules of flowering plants.

2. (Biol.) (a) A minute grain or germ; a small, round or ovoid body, formed in certain organisms, and by germination giving rise to a new organism; as, the reproductive spores of bacteria, etc. (b) One of the parts formed by fission in certain Protozoa. See Spore formation, belw. Spore formation. (a) (Biol) A mode of reproduction resembling multitude fission, common among Protozoa, in which the organism breaks up into a number of pieces, or spores, each of which eventually develops into an organism like the parent form. Balfour. (b) The formation of reproductive cells or spores, as in the growth of bacilli.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition