megagamete

American  

[meg-uh-guh-meet, -gam-eet] / ˌmɛg ə gəˈmit, -ˈgæm it /

noun

Cell Biology.

1. macrogamete.

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megagamete British  

/ ˌmɛɡəˈɡæmiːt /

noun

1. another name for macrogamete

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Etymology

Origin of megagamete

First recorded in 1890–95; mega- + gamete

Example Sentences

The micro-gametes soon liberate themselves from the residual cytoplasm of the parent and swim away in search of a megagamete; each is a very slender, wavy filament, composed largely of chromatic substance.

From Project Gutenberg

The megagametocyte becomes a megagamete directly after a process of maturation, which consists in the expulsion of a certain amount of nuclear substance.

From Project Gutenberg

The microgamete in this case is the male element and equivalent to a spermatozoon; the megagamete is the female and equivalent to an egg-cell.

From Project Gutenberg

The fragments of the karyosome, which are, as it were, squeezed out to the exterior, exert a powerful attraction upon the microgametes, many of which swarm round the now mature megagamete.

From Project Gutenberg

In place of many female elements, which the primitive or ancestral forms may be assumed to have had,4 there is always, save possibly for one exception,5 only a single relatively huge megagamete formed, which offers a comparatively easy goal for one of the many microgametes.

From Project Gutenberg