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capable of active motion. In animals, the familiar type is that of a small, more or less ovoid head, with a delicate threadlike cilium, or tail. Called also spermatozoön. In plants the more usual term is antherozoid.

A minute grain or germ; a small, round or ovoid body, formed in certain organisms, and by germination giving rise to a new organism; as, the reproductive spores of bacteria, etc.

o spot with guilt or infamy; to bring reproach on; to blot; to soil; to tarnish. Of honor void, Of innocence, of faith, of purity, Our wonted ornaments now soiled and stained. Milton.

in the American colonies, and declaring all writings on unstamped materials to be null an void. -- Stamp collector, an officer who receives or collects stamp duties; one who collects postage or other stamps. -- Stamp duty, a duty, or tax, imposed on paper and parchment used for certain writings, as deeds, conveyances…

slip in, along, or away, unperceived; to go or come furtively. Chaucer. Fixed of mind to avoid further entreaty, and to fly all company, one night she stole away. Sir P. Sidney. From whom you now must steal, and take no leave. Shak. A soft and solemn breathing sound Rose like a steam of rich, distilled perfumes, And st…

distinction from engraving in lines. The interlaying of small pieces can not altogether avoid a broken, stippled, spotty effect. Milman.

be free from passion, unmoved by joy or grief, and should submit without complaint to unavoidable necessity, by which all things are governed.

accompanied with wind or not. We hear this fearful tempest sing, Yet seek no shelter to avoid the storm. Shak.

dusky spots on the wings. Called also currant moth. -- Strawberry pear (Bot.), the red ovoid fruit of a West Indian plant of the genus Cereus (C. triangularia). It has a sweetish flavor, and is slightly acid, pleasant, and cooling. Also, the plant bearing the fruit. -- Strawberry sawfly (Zoöl.), a small black sawfly…

Without a definite structure, or arrangement of parts; without organization; devoid of cells; homogeneous; as, a structureless membrane.

To allege or prove to be of unsound mind, so that the performance of some act may be avoided.

y opinions or conduct; a shift; an evasion. Affect not little shifts and subterfuges, to avoid the force of an argument. I. Watts. By a miserable subterfuge, they hope to render this position safe by rendering it nugatory. Burke.

To make void, inefficacious, or useless, by superior power, or by coming in the place of; to set aside; to render unnecessary; to suspend; to stay. Nothing is supposed that can supersede the known laws of natural motion. Bentley.

A child's play in which one runs after and touches another, and then runs away to avoid being touched.

Tardiness. [Obs.] To instruct them to avoid all snares of tarditation, in the Lord's affairs. Herrick.

providing for no payment to the insured except upon losses during the term, and becoming void upon its expiration.

Private; confidential; familiar. She avoided tête-à-tête walks with him. C. Kingsley.

A coarse, gross person; a person void of sensibility or sinsitiveness; a dullard.

A policy limited to become void at a specified time; -- often contrasted with voyage policy.

d his brother. Deut. xxviii. 54. Herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offense toward God, and toward men. Acts xxiv. 16.