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ovum
7 dictionary results for: Ovum
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
o·vum       [oh-vuhm] Pronunciation Key
–noun, plural o·va       [oh-vuh] Pronunciation Key.
1.Cell Biology.
a.the female reproductive cell or gamete of animals, which is capable of developing, usually only after fertilization, into a new individual.
b.the female reproductive cell or gamete of plants.
2.Architecture. an oval ornament, as in an egg-and-dart molding.
[Origin: 1700–10; < L ōvum egg1; c. Gk ōión]
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
o·vum       (ō'vəm)  Pronunciation Key 
n.   pl. o·va (ō'və)
The female reproductive cell or gamete of animals; egg.


[Latin ōvum, egg; see awi- in Indo-European roots.]

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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
ovum 
(pl. ova), 1706, from L. ovum "egg," cognate with Gk. oon, O.N. egg, O.E. æg, all from PIE base *owyo-/*oyyo- "egg" (see egg).

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

noun
the female reproductive cell; the female gamete 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
ovum       (ō'vəm)  Pronunciation Key 
Plural ova
The mature reproductive cell of female animals, produced in the ovaries. See more at egg.

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 Stedman's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

ovum o·vum (ō'vəm)
n. pl. o·va (ō'və)
The female reproductive cell or gamete; egg.

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

Ovum

O"vum\, n.; pl. L. Ova, E. Ovums. [L., an egg. See Oval.]

1. (Biol.) A more or less spherical and transparent mass of granular protoplasm, which by a process of multiplication and growth develops into a mass of cells, constituting a new individual like the parent; an egg, spore, germ, or germ cell. See Illust. of Mycropyle.

Note: The ovum is a typical cell, with a cell wall, cell substance, nucleus, and nucleolus. In man and the higher animals the cell wall, a vertically striated membrane, is called the zona pellucida; the cell contents, the vitellus; the nucleus, the germinal vesicle; and the nucleolus, the germinal spot. The diameter of the ripe ovum in man and the domestic animals varies between 1-200 and 1-120 of an inch.

2. (Arch.) One of the series of egg-shaped ornaments into which the ovolo is often carved. --Gwilt.

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