‖ ovulum
(ˈəʊvjuːləm)
Pl. ovula.
[mod.L. dim. of ōvum egg.]
† 1. Bot. = ovule 1. Obs.
| 1830 Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 174 Ovarium..containing a single erect ovulum. |
2. Zool. and Physiol. = ovule 2, 2 b. ? Obs.
| 1822–34 Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) I. 263 The myriads of invisible ovula with which the atmosphere swarms. Ibid. IV. 16 The ovulum is seldom found, even in the fallopian tube, till some time afterwards [i.e. after copulation]. 1831 R. Knox Cloquet's Anat. 826 Frequently..these crypts..assume the form of small semitransparent vesicles projecting into the interior of the uterus. An old author, Naboth, took them for ova, and for this reason these small bodies are sometimes designated by the name of Ovula of Naboth. 1855 Ramsbotham Obstetr. Med. 44 A minute body of spheroidal shape,—the ovulum. |
3. Zool. A genus of gastropod molluscs, including the Egg-shell (O. ovum) with an egg-shaped shell.
| 1837 Penny Cycl. VIII. 259/1 Lamarck enumerates eighteen fossil species of Cypræa, and two of Ovulum. 1851–6 Woodward Mollusca 34 A posterior siphon, generally less developed, but very long in Ovulum volva. |