oosphere

American  

[oh-uh-sfeer] / ˈoʊ əˌsfɪər /

noun

Biology.

1. an unfertilized egg within an oogonium.

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oosphere British  

/ ˈəʊəˌsfɪə /

noun

1. a large female gamete produced in the oogonia of algae and fungi

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oosphere Scientific  

/ ō′ə-sfîr′ /

1. A large nonmotile female gamete formed in an oogonium, such as the eggs formed in the oogonium of an oomycete.

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Etymology

Origin of oosphere

First recorded in 1870–75; oo- + -sphere

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

oosphere

The protoplasm in one of these protuberances arranges itself into a round mass--the oosphere or female cell.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 531, March 6, 1886 by Various

We thus have a process of “multiple fertilization”; the oosphere really represents a large number of undifferentiated gametes and has been termed a coenogamete.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 3 "Frost" to "Fyzabad" by Various

The oogonia, unlike the Peronosporaceae, contain more than one oosphere.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 3 "Frost" to "Fyzabad" by Various

After impregnation the fertilized oosphere immediately surrounds itself with a cell-wall and becomes the oospore which by a process of growth forms the embryo of the new plant.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Part 1, Slice 1 by Various

The sexual generation is a small green thalloid structure called a prothallium, which bears antheridia and archegonia, each archegonium having a neck-canal and oosphere, which is fertilized just as in the moss.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 531, March 6, 1886 by Various