2. Hence, a small quantity. Arbuthnot.
Spoonily
(Spoon"i*ly) adv. In a spoony manner.
Spoon-meat
(Spoon"-meat`) n. Food that is, or must be, taken with a spoon; liquid food. "Diet most
upon spoon-meats." Harvey.
Spoonwood
(Spoon"wood`) n. (Bot.) The mountain laurel
Spoonworm
(Spoon"worm`) n. (Zoöl.) A gephyrean worm of the genus Thalassema, having a spoonlike
probiscis.
Spoonwort
(Spoon"wort`) n. (Bot.) Scurvy grass.
Spoony
(Spoon"y) a. & n. Same as Spooney.
Spoor
(Spoor) n. [D. spoor; akin to AS. spor, G. spur, and from the root of E. spur. &radic171. See
Spur.] The track or trail of any wild animal; as, the spoor of an elephant; — used originally by travelers
in South Africa.
Spoor
(Spoor), v. i. To follow a spoor or trail. [R.]
Sporades
(||Spor"a*des) n. pl. [L., fr. Gr. spora`des. Cf. Sporadic.] (Astron.) Stars not included in
any constellation; — called also informed, or unformed, stars.
Sporadial
(Spo*ra"di*al) a. Sporadic. [R.]
Sporadic
(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.
Sporadical
(Spo*rad"ic*al) a. Sporadic.
Sporadically
(Spo*rad"ic*al*ly), adv. In a sporadic manner.
Sporangiophore
(Spo*ran"gi*o*phore) n. [Sporangium + Gr. to bear.] (Bot.) The axis or receptacle in
certain ferns which bears the sporangia.
Sporangium
(||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
(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.
