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