oviposit

[oh-vuh-poz-it, oh-vuh-poz-]

verb (used without object)

1. to deposit or lay eggs, especially by means of an ovipositor.

Other Word Forms

• oviposition noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of oviposit¹

First recorded in 1810–20; ovi- + -posit, from Latin positus ( posit )

Example Sentences

Adults live for only a few hours, during which they mate and oviposit.

Read more on Nature

The species which oviposit on larger plants or trees are inclosed in a gauze bag tied over the branch.

Read more on Project Gutenberg

They may frequently be taken about tree trunks, or burrowing with their long gimlet-like ovipositors into the trunks of trees to oviposit.

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Sedges do at times descend to oviposit and so do certain spinners, but the appearance under this condition, with an air bubble between their wings, resembles nothing so much as a globe of mercury—an appearance which bears no resemblance to the ordinary sunk fly patterns.'

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From his long experience in rearing the eggs of these insects he concluded that the egg-laying females know in a most remarkable way the precise kinds of leaves upon which to oviposit.

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