See Also: spawn(medicine)
spawn(1)(dictionary)
spawn(2)(dictionary)
spawn 1, verb(dictionary)
spawn 2, noun(dictionary)

spawn(2) (iou)



spawn verb. LME.
[Aphet. from Anglo-Norman espaundre shed roe, var. of Old French espandre (mod. epandre) shed, spill, pour out from Latin expandere EXPAND.]
I. verb intrans.
Of fish etc.: cast spawn. LME.
New Scientist: Acanthaster, like other starfish, spawns directly into the water. transf.: G. Greene A wretched father, whose wife spawns by calendar every fall.
Increase, develop, grow; become reproductive. Also foll. by into. E17.
Appear, arise, result; come out in large numbers. M17.
H. E. Bates Continually new roofs spawned along clay hill-sides, encrusting new land.
Swarm or teem with something. rare. E19.
II. verb trans.
Produce, generate; result in, give rise to. Freq. derog. L16.
Scientific American Novel consumer products that are spawned by developments in microelectronics. Arizona Daily Star The hot air spawned thunderstorms that rained golfball-size hail. Country Walking Walking..has spawned a whole new range of literature.
b. spec. Produce or generate as spawn; derog. give birth to (a person). E17.
W. Cowper A race obscene, Spawn'd in the muddy beds of Nile, came forth, Polluting Egypt.
Supply with mushroom spawn. L18.
Extract spawn from (a fish). L19.
spawned ppl adjective (a) cast or deposited as spawn; (b) that has emitted spawn, spent (freq. foll. by out): M19.
spawning ppl adjective (a) (of fish etc.) engaged in casting spawn; (b) fertile; teeming; prolific: L16.