gamete Biol.
(gæˈmiːt, ˈgæmiːt)
[ad. mod.L. gameta ad. Gr. γαµετή a wife, γαµέτης a husband, f. γαµεῖν to marry, f. γάµος marriage.]
(See quot. 1887.) Also Comb.
| 1886 S. H. Vines in Encycl. Brit. XX. 425/1 This fusion of two similar reproductive cells—this conjugation, as it is termed—is one of the simplest forms of the sexual process; the zygospore is then a sexually produced spore, and the two cells which conjugate to form it are spoken of as gametes,—planogametes when they possess cilia, aplanogametes when they do not. 1887 tr. De Bary's Fungi 495, Gamete, sexual protoplasmic body..which on conjugation with another gamete of like or unlike outward form gives rise to a body termed zygote. Same as conjugation-cell. 1891 M. Hartog in Nature 17 Sept. 484/1 Anisogamy. The union of two gametes differing chiefly in size. 1914 Geddes & Thomson Sex ii. 45 These foci of gamete-making began to be enclosed..and nourished by adjacent tissue. 1927 Haldane & Huxley Animal Biol. ii. 63 Before gamete-formation, the two members of such a pair segregate. 1963 R. P. Dales Annelids viii. 164 The posterior gamete-producing segments. |