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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 (gcide)

Gamete \Gam"ete\ (g[a^]m"[=e]t; g[.a]*m[=e]t"; the latter
usually in compounds), n. [Gr. gameth` wife, or game`ths
husband, fr. gamei^n to marry.] (Biol.)
A sexual cell or germ cell having a single set of unpaired
chromosomes; a conjugating cell which unites with another of
like or unlike character to form a new individual. In Bot.,
gamete designates esp. the similar sex cells of the lower
thallophytes which unite by conjugation, forming a zygospore.
The gametes of higher plants are of two sorts, {sperm} (male)
and {egg} (female); their union is called fertilization, and
the resulting zygote an oospore. In Zool., gamete is most
commonly used of the sexual cells of certain Protozoa, though
also extended to the germ cells of higher forms.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]


Egg \Egg\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Egged}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Egging}.] [OE. eggen, Icel. eggja, fr. egg edge. ??. See
{Edge}.]
To urge on; to instigate; to incite?
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Adam and Eve he egged to ill. --Piers
Plowman.
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[She] did egg him on to tell
How fair she was. --Warner.
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Egg \Egg\ ([e^]g), n. [OE., fr. Icel. egg; akin to AS. [ae]g
(whence OE. ey), Sw. [aum]gg, Dan. [ae]g, G. & D. ei, and
prob. to OSlav. aje, jaje, L. ovum, Gr. 'w,o`n, Ir. ugh,
Gael. ubh, and perh. to L. avis bird. Cf. {Oval}.]
1. (Popularly) The oval or roundish body laid by domestic
poultry and other birds, tortoises, etc. It consists of a
yolk, usually surrounded by the "white" or albumen, and
inclosed in a shell or strong membrane.
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2. (Biol.) A simple cell, from the development of which the
young of animals are formed; ovum; germ cell.
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3. Anything resembling an egg in form.
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Note: Egg is used adjectively, or as the first part of
self-explaining compounds; as, egg beater or
egg-beater, egg case, egg ladle, egg-shaped, etc.
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{Egg and anchor} (Arch.), see {egg-and-dart} in the
vocabulary, below; -- called also {egg and dart}, and {egg
and tongue}. See {Anchor}, n., 5. --Ogilvie.

{Egg cleavage} (Biol.), a process of cleavage or
segmentation, by which the egg undergoes endogenous
division with formation of a mass of nearly similar cells,
from the growth and differentiation of which the new
organism is ultimately formed. See {Segmentation of the
ovum}, under {Segmentation}.

{Egg development} (Biol.), the process of the development of
an egg, by which the embryo is formed.

{Egg mite} (Zo["o]l.), any mite which devours the eggs of
insects, as {Nothrus ovivorus}, which destroys those of
the canker worm.

{Egg parasite} (Zo["o]l.), any small hymenopterous insect,
which, in the larval stage, lives within the eggs of other
insects. Many genera and species are known.
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