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Webster's Dictionary (1865)

3 entries under this word

Spawn

Spawn, n.

noun

n. [It has no plural.] [Prov. Ger. spän, spunn, spinn, suck, milk drawn from the breast, O. D. spene, spenne, spinne, sponne, juice, milk, spene, breast, teat, O. H. Ger. spunnî, udder, A-S. spanu, spana, Prov. Eng. spean, spene, a teat, from O. H. Ger. spanian, spenian, spenên, to milk. Cf. SPANE.]

  1. The eggs of fish or frogs when ejected.
  2. Any product or offspring; — used contemptuously. Roscommon.
  3. (Gardening.) The buds or branches produced from underground stems.
  4. (Bot.) The white fibrous matter forming the matrix from which fungi are produced; the mycelium of fungi.

Spawn, v. t.

verbtransitive

[imp. & p. p. SPAWNED; p. pr. & vb. n. SPAWNING.] 1. To produce or deposit, as fishes do their eggs. 2. To bring forth; to generate; — used contemptuously.

These orders have spawned much since our last civil wars. Fuller.

Spawn, v. i.

verbintransitive
  1. To deposit eggs, as fish or frogs.
  2. To issue, as offspring; — used contemptuously.