zoospermhttp://www.oed.com/dictionary/zoosperm_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_usezoosperm, n.
Revised 2017

zoospermnoun

Biology.
  1. 1.
    1824–
    A spermatozoon; a sperm cell; = spermatozoon n. Now chiefly historical.
    Zoosperms were originally thought to be independent organisms whose role in reproduction was unclear.
    1. 1824
      The beings for which I have suggested the name of Zoosperms..form part of the family of cercariæ.
      M. Bory de St. Vincent in Lancet 3 July 17/2
    2. 1837
      The part in the physiology of generation which these zoosperms perform is not so clear.
      Penny Cyclopaedia vol. IX. 460/2
    3. 1868
      The discovery of zoosperms would prove conclusive of the presence of semen.
      Princ. Forensic Medicine (ed. 3) ii. 48
    4. a1902
      If a man is to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, he must do so, not only as a little child, but as a little embryo, or rather as a little zoosperm.
      S. Butler, Way of All Flesh (1903) lxiii. 285
    5. 1930
      An egg..fuses with a zoosperm..which constitutes the beginning of a new individual.
      H. D. Reed & B. P. Young, Lab. Stud. Zoology 47
    6. 2007
      Those sluices and baths failed to neutralize every stray animacule and zoosperm deposited by the hundred weekly patrons of 101 Mercer Street.
      K. Andersen, Heyday 77
  2. 2.
    1842–91
    † A zoospore. Cf. sporozoid n. Obsolete.
    1. 1842
      The masses, which appear to be..truly a form of fructification.., after a certain time break up again into Zoosperms endowed with the most lively motion.
      Annals & Magazine of Natural History vol. 10 130
    2. 1869
      The zoosperms, or zoospores, are minute microscopical corpuscles.., two-thirds full of a green liquid called chlorophylle.
      H. M. Hart, translation of C. H. B. A. Moquin-Tandon, World of Sea iv. 43
    3. 1891
      That [special chemical property] possessed by the zoosperms of the myxomycetes, that they were attracted by certain bodies and repelled by others.
      British Medical Journal 15 August 379/1

Originally published as part of the entry for zoo-, comb. form

zoosperm, n. was revised in June 2017.

zoosperm, n. was last modified in July 2023.