Spawn
Spawn , transitive verb
[Old English spanen, Old French espandre, properly, to shed, spread, Latin expandere to spread out. See Expand.]
1.
To produce or deposit (eggs), as fishes or frogs do.
2.
To bring forth; to generate; -- used in contempt.
One edition [of books] spawneth another.
Spawn , intransitive verb
1.
To deposit eggs, as fish or frogs do.
2.
To issue, as offspring; -- used contemptuously.
Spawn , noun
[r170. See Spawn, transitive verb]
1.
The ova, or eggs, of fishes, oysters, and other aquatic animals.
2.
Any product or offspring; -- used contemptuously.
3.
(Horticulture) The buds or branches produced from underground stems.
4.
(Botany) The white fibrous matter forming the matrix from which fungi.
Collocations (1)
Spawn eater (Zoology) , a small American cyprinoid fish (Notropis Hudsonius) allied to the dace.