Hypertext Webster Gateway: "spawn"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Spawn \Spawn\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Spawned}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Spawning}.] [OE. spanen, OF. espandre, properly, to shed,
spread, L. expandere to spread out. See {Expand}.]
1. To produce or deposit (eggs), as fishes or frogs do.
2. To bring forth; to generate; -- used in contempt.
One edition [of books] spawneth another. --Fuller.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Spawn \Spawn\, v. i.
1. To deposit eggs, as fish or frogs do.
2. To issue, as offspring; -- used contemptuously.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Spawn \Spawn\, n. [[root]170. See {Spawn}, v. t.]
1. The ova, or eggs, of fishes, oysters, and other aquatic
animals.
2. Any product or offspring; -- used contemptuously.
3. (Hort.) The buds or branches produced from underground
stems.
4. (Bot.) The white fibrous matter forming the matrix from
which fungi.
{Spawn eater} (Zo["o]l.), a small American cyprinoid fish
({Notropis Hudsonius}) allied to the dace.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
spawn
n : the mass of eggs deposited by fish or amphibians or molluscs
v 1: call forth [syn: {engender}, {breed}]
2: emit spawn, of fish; "The salmon swims upstream to spawn"
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