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great differentiation of its parts (root, stem, leaves, flowers, etc.); by the extreme reduction of the gametophyte; and by the development of seeds. All the Spermatophyta are heterosporous; fertilization of the egg cell is either through a pollen tube emitted by the microspore or (in a few gymnosperms) by spermatozoi…

A vegetable production of many kinds, fragrant or aromatic and pungent to the taste, as pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, allspice, ginger, cloves, etc., which are used in cookery and to flavor sauces, pickles, etc. Hast thou aught in thy purse [bag] any hot spices Piers Plowman.

ngy. -- Sponge lead, or Spongy lead (Chem.), metallic lead brought to a spongy form by reduction of lead salts, or by compressing finely divided lead; -- used in secondary batteries and otherwise. -- Sponge tree (Bot.), a tropical leguminous tree (Acacia Farnesiana), with deliciously fragrant flowers, which are used…

n certain Protozoa. See Spore formation, belw. Spore formation. (a) (Biol) A mode of reproduction resembling multitude fission, common among Protozoa, in which the organism breaks up into a number of pieces, or spores, each of which eventually develops into an organism like the parent form. Balfour.…

An asexual zooid, usually forming one of a series of larval forms in the agamic reproduction of various trematodes and other parasitic worms. The sporocyst generally develops from an egg, but in its turn produces other larvæ by internal budding, or by the subdivision of a part or all of its contents into a number of mi…

reproduction by spores.

Done in jest, or for mere play; sportive. They are no sportful productions of the soil. Bentley. -- Sport"ful*ly, adv. -- Sport"ful*ness, n.

One who prepares a play for production. He arranges the details of the stage settings, the business to be used, all stage effects, and instructs the actors, excepting usually the star, in the general interpretation of their parts.

One in control of the stage during the production of a play. He directs the stage hands, property man, etc., has charge of all details behind the curtain, except the acting, and has a general oversight of the actors. Sometimes he is also the stage director.

The principal commodity of traffic in a market; a principal commodity or production of a country or district; as, wheat, maize, and cotton are great staples of the United States. We should now say, Cotton is the great staple, that is, the established merchandize, of Manchester. Trench.

peculiar creaking sound when rubbed between the fingers. It is used as a food, in the production of commercial grape sugar, for stiffening linen in laundries, in making paste, etc.

A production of stenography; anything written in shorthand. I saw the reporters' room, in which they redact their hasty stenographs. Emerson.

inciple. Sterhydraulic press, an hydraulic press producing pressure or motion by the introduction of a solid substance (as a long rod, or a cord wound on a roller) into a cylinder previously filled with a liquid.

Incapable of reproduction; unfitted for reproduction of offspring; not able to germinate or bear fruit; unfruitful; as, a sterile flower, which bears only stamens.

The production of stigmata upon the body. See Stigma, 8.

o about to extenuate the latitude of the curse upon the earth, or stint it only to the production of weeds. Woodward. She stints them in their meals. Law.

ch, or for injecting them into it. -- Stomach tube (Med.), a long flexible tube for introduction into the stomach. -- Stomach worm (Zoöl.), the common roundworm (Ascaris lumbricoides) found in the human intestine, and rarely in the stomach.

njection into the sheath of the spinal cord, producing anæsthesia below the point of introduction.

The reduction of stream tin; also, the search for stream tin.

To quit work in order to compel an increase, or prevent a reduction, of wages.