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embryo
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9 dictionary results for: Embryo
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
em·bry·o       [em-bree-oh] Pronunciation Key noun, plural -os, adjective
–noun
1.the young of a viviparous animal, esp. of a mammal, in the early stages of development within the womb, in humans up to the end of the second month. Compare fetus.
2.Botany. the rudimentary plant usually contained in the seed.
3.any multicellular animal in a developmental stage preceding birth or hatching.
4.the beginning or rudimentary stage of anything: He charged that the party policy was socialism in embryo.
–adjective
5.embryonic.
[Origin: 1580–90; < ML embryon-, embryo < Gk émbryon, n. use of neut. of émbryos ingrowing, equiv. to em- em-2 + bry- (s. of brýein to swell) + -os adj. suffix]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
em·bry·o       (ěm'brē-ō')  Pronunciation Key 
n.   pl. em·bry·os
    1. An organism in its early stages of development, especially before it has reached a distinctively recognizable form.
    2. An organism at any time before full development, birth, or hatching.
    3. The fertilized egg of a vertebrate animal following cleavage.
    4. In humans, the prefetal product of conception from implantation through the eighth week of development.
    1. The fertilized egg of a vertebrate animal following cleavage.
    2. In humans, the prefetal product of conception from implantation through the eighth week of development.
  3. Botany The minute, rudimentary plant contained within a seed or an archegonium.
  4. A rudimentary or beginning stage: "To its founding fathers, the European [Economic] Community was the embryo of the United States of Europe" (Economist).


[Medieval Latin embryō, from Greek embruon : en-, in; see en-2 + bruein, to be full to bursting.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
embryo 
c.1350, from M.L. embryo, from Gk. embryon, in Homer, "young animal," later, "fruit of the womb," lit. "that which grows," from en- "in" + bryein "to swell, be full."

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
embryo

noun
1. (botany) a minute rudimentary plant contained within a seed or an archegonium 
2. an animal organism in the early stages of growth and differentiation that in higher forms merge into fetal stages but in lower forms terminate in commencement of larval life 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
embryo       (ěm'brē-ō')  Pronunciation Key 
  1. An animal in its earliest stage of development, before all the major body structures are represented. In humans, the embryonic stage lasts through the first eight weeks of pregnancy. In humans, other placental mammals, and other viviparous animals, young born as embryos cannot thrive. In marsupials, the young are born during the embryonic stage and complete their development outside the uterus, attached to a teat within the mother's pouch.
  2. The developing young of an egg-laying animal before hatching.
  3. The sporophyte of a plant in its earliest stages of development, such as the miniature, partially developed plant contained within a seed before germination.

embryonic adjective (ěm'brē-ŏn'ĭk)

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
embryo [(em-bree-oh)]

A developing plant or animal. A plant embryo is an undeveloped plant inside a seed. An animal embryo is the animal as it develops from the single cell of the zygote until birth. Among humans and most other mammals, the embryo is carried in the mother's womb.

Note: The term is occasionally used to denote a new or developing idea or project: “The idea for the complete theory was already present in his work, in embryo form, in 1950.”

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

embryo em·bry·o (ěm'brē-ō')
n. pl. em·bry·os

  1. An organism in its early stages of development, especially before it has reached a distinctively recognizable form.
  2. An organism at any time before full development, birth, or hatching.
  3. The fertilized egg of a vertebrate animal following cleavage.
  4. In humans, the prefetal product of conception from implantation through the eighth week of development.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Embryo

Em"bry*o\, n.; pl. Embryos. [F. embryon, Gr. 'e`mbryon, perh. fr. ? in (akin to L. ? E. in) + ? to be full of, swell with; perh. akin to E. brew.] (Biol.) The first rudiments of an organism, whether animal or plant; as: (a) The young of an animal in the womb, or more specifically, before its parts are developed and it becomes a fetus (see Fetus). (b) The germ of the plant, which is inclosed in the seed and which is developed by germination.

In embryo, in an incipient or undeveloped state; in conception, but not yet executed. "The company little suspected what a noble work I had then in embryo." --Swift.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Embryo

Em"bry*o\, a. Pertaining to an embryo; rudimentary; undeveloped; as, an embryo bud.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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