Spo*rad"ic (?), a. [Gr. &?; scattered, fr. &?;, &?;, scattered, fr. &?;
to sow seed, to scatter like seed: cf. F. sporadique. See Spore.]
Occuring singly, or apart from other things of the same kind, or in
scattered instances; separate; single; as, a sporadic fireball; a
sporadic case of disease; a sporadic example of a flower.
Sporadic disease (Med.), a disease which occurs in single and scattered
cases. See the Note under Endemic, a.
Spo*rad"ic*al (?), a. Sporadic.
Spo*rad"ic*al*ly, adv. In a sporadic manner.
Spo*ran"gi*o*phore (?), n. [Sporangium + Gr. &?; to bear.] (Bot.) The
axis or receptacle in certain ferns (as Trichomanes), which bears the
sporangia.
||Spo*ran"gi*um (?), n.; pl. Sporangia (#). [NL., fr. Gr. &?; a sowing,
||seed + &?; a receptacle.] (Bot.) A spore case in the cryptogamous
||plants, as in ferns, etc.
Spore (?), n. [Gr. &?; a sowing, seed, from &?; to sow. Cf. Sperm.] 1.
(Bot.) (a) One of the minute grains in flowerless plants, which are
analogous to seeds, as serving to reproduce the species.
Spores are produced differently in the different classes of
cryptogamous plants, and as regards their nature are often so unlike
that they have only their minuteness in common. The peculiar spores of
diatoms (called auxospores) increase in size, and at length acquire a
siliceous coating, thus becoming new diatoms of full size. Compare
Macrospore, Microspore, Oöspore, Restingspore, Sphærospore, Swarmspore,
Tetraspore, Zoöspore, and Zygospore.
(b) An embryo sac or embryonal vesicle in the ovules of flowering
plants.
2. (Biol.) (a) A minute grain or germ; a small, round or ovoid body,
formed in certain organisms, and by germination giving rise to a new
organism; as, the reproductive spores of bacteria, etc. (b) One of the
parts formed by fission in certain Protozoa. See Spore formation, belw.
Spore formation. (a) (Biol) A mode of reproduction resembling multitude
fission, common among Protozoa, in which the organism breaks up into a
number of pieces, or spores, each of which eventually develops into an
organism like the parent form. Balfour. (b) The formation of
reproductive cells or spores, as in the growth of bacilli.
Spo"rid (?), n. (Bot.) A sporidium. Lindley.
Spo`ri*dif"er*ous (?), a. [Sporidium + -ferous.] (Bot.) Bearing
sporidia.
||Spo*rid"i*um (?), n.; pl. Sporidia (#). [NL. See Spore.] (Bot.) (a) A
||secondary spore, or a filament produced from a spore, in certain
||kinds of minute fungi. (b) A spore.
Spo*rif"er*ous (?), a. [Spore + -ferous.] (Biol.) Bearing or producing
spores.
Spo`ri*fi*ca"tion (?), n. [Spore + L. -ficare (in comp.) to make. See
-fy.] (Biol.) Spore formation. See Spore formation (b), under Spore.
Spo"ro*carp (?), n. [Spore + Gr. &?; fruit.] (Bot.) (a) A closed body
or conceptacle containing one or more masses of spores or sporangia.
(b) A sporangium.
Spo"ro*cyst (?), n. [Gr. &?; seed + &?; bladder.] 1. (Zoöl.) An asexual
zooid, usually forming one of a series of larval forms in the agamic
reproduction of various trematodes and other parasitic worms. The
sporocyst generally develops from an egg, but in its turn produces
other larvæ by internal budding, or by the subdivision of a part or all
of its contents into a number of minute germs. See Redia.
2. (Zoöl.) Any protozoan when it becomes encysted produces germs by
sporulation.
Spo`ro*gen"e*sis (?), n. [Spore + genesis.] (Biol.) reproduction by
spores.
Spo*rog"o*ny (?), n. [Spore + root of Gr. &?; to be born.] (Zoöl.) The
growth or development of an animal or a zooid from a nonsexual germ.
Spo"ro*phore (?), n. [Spore + Gr. &?; to bear.] (Bot.) (a) A placenta.
(b) That alternately produced form of certain cryptogamous plants, as
ferns, mosses, and the like, which is nonsexual, but produces spores in
countless numbers. In ferns it is the leafy plant, in mosses the
capsule. Cf. Oöphore.
Spo`ro*phor"ic (?), a. (Bot.) Having the nature of a sporophore.
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Spo"ro*sac (?), n. [Spore + sac.] (Zoöl.) (a) A hydrozoan reproductive
zooid or gonophore which does not become medusoid in form or structure.
See Illust. under Athecata. (b) An early or simple larval stage of
trematode worms and some other invertebrates, which is capable or
reproducing other germs by asexual generation; a nurse; a redia.
||Spo`ro*zo"a (?), n. pl. [NL., from Gr. spo`ros a spore + zo^,on an
||animal.] (Zoöl.) An extensive division of parasitic Protozoa, which
||increase by sporulation. It includes the Gregarinida.
Spo`ro*zo"id (?), n. [Spore + Gr. &?; an animal.] (Bot.) Same as
Zoöspore.
Spor"ran (spr"ran), n. [Gael. sporan.] A large purse or pouch made of
skin with the hair or fur on, worn in front of the kilt by Highlanders
when in full dress.
Sport (sprt), n. [Abbreviated frm disport.] 1. That which diverts, and
makes mirth; pastime; amusement.
It is as sport a fool do mischief.
prov. x. 23.
Her sports were such as carried riches of knowledge upon the stream
of delight.
Sir P. Sidney.
Think it but a minute spent in sport.
Shak.