spawn
(spôn)
[Middle English spawne, from spawnen, to spawn, from Anglo-Norman espaundre, from Latin expandere; see expand.]
noun
- The eggs of aquatic animals such as bivalve mollusks, fishes, and amphibians.
- Offspring occurring in numbers; brood.
- A person who is the issue of a parent or family.
- The source of something; a germ or seed.
- A product or an outcome.
- Mycelia of mushrooms or other fungi grown in specially prepared organic matter for planting in beds.
verb: spawned, spawn·ing, spawns.
intransitive verb
- To deposit eggs; produce spawn.
- To produce offspring in large numbers.
transitive verb
- To produce or deposit (spawn).
- To produce in large numbers.
- To give rise to; engender: tyranny that spawned revolt.
- To cause to spawn; bring forth; produce: a family that had spawned a monster.
- To plant with mycelia grown in specially prepared organic matter.
derivatives
- spawńer
- noun
