spore
Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
spore/spɔː(r)/
▶noun
- 1 Biology a minute, typically single-celled, reproductive unit characteristic of lower plants, fungi, and protozoans, capable of giving rise to a new individual without sexual fusion.
- 2 Microbiology (in bacteria) a rounded resistant form adopted by a bacterial cell in adverse conditions.
– origin C19: from mod. L. spora, from Gk spora ‘sowing, seed’.
'spore' also found in these Oxford entries:
adder's tongue
- basidium
- capsule
- chlamydospore
- columella
- conidium
- cryptosporidium
- cyclosporin
- diaspore
- fructification
- fruiting body
- fungus
- germinate
- horsetail
- hymenium
- microspore
- moonwort
- mushroom
- nosema
- oidium
- operculum
- propagule
- shield fern
- sorus
- sporangium
- sporo-
- sporogenesis
- sporogony
- sporophore
- sporozoan
- sporozoite
- sporulate
- stroma
- toadstool
- viable
- zoospore
