ovule

[ ov-yool, oh-vyool ]

See synonyms for ovule on Thesaurus.com

noun

Botany.
- a rudimentary seed.
- the plant part that contains the embryo sac and hence the female germ cell, which after fertilization develops into a seed.
Biology. a small egg.

Origin of ovule

First recorded in 1820–30, ovule is from the Latin word ōvulum little egg. See ovum, -ule

Words Nearby ovule

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use ovule in a sentence

It also explains why sometimes you get cobs with bare patches—sometimes not every ovule gets fertilized.
The bizarre botany that makes corn a fruit, a grain, and also (kind of) a vegetable | empire | July 8, 2021 | Popular-Science
Before those ears look anything like the juicy kernel-covered cob you eat, they’re essentially a hard cylinder covered in hundreds of unfertilized ovules.
The bizarre botany that makes corn a fruit, a grain, and also (kind of) a vegetable | empire | July 8, 2021 | Popular-Science
Each of these ovules grows a single silk, which reaches up and out of the top of the husk, where it dangles in the hopes of catching a bit of pollen on its little sticky hairs.
The bizarre botany that makes corn a fruit, a grain, and also (kind of) a vegetable | empire | July 8, 2021 | Popular-Science
We know he had been for many years interested in the ovule, and he made a number of important discoveries respecting it.
Makers of British Botany; a collection of biographies by living botanists | Various
We must recollect that the comparative morphology of the ovule (in the wide sense) was not attempted.
Makers of British Botany; a collection of biographies by living botanists | Various

When at Malacca Griffith interested himself among many other problems in the ovule and the development of the seed of Avicennia.
Makers of British Botany; a collection of biographies by living botanists | Various
Interest in the structure of the ovule and the nature of fertilisation was widespread at the time Griffith worked.
Makers of British Botany; a collection of biographies by living botanists | Various
The ovary is free, and the carpels, one or more in number, contain each a single ovule.
The Sea Shore | William S. Furneaux

British Dictionary definitions for ovule

ovule

/ (ˈɒvjuːl) /

noun

a small body in seed-bearing plants that consists of the integument(s), nucellus, and embryosac (containing the egg cell) and develops into the seed after fertilization
zoology an immature ovum

Origin of ovule

C19: via French from Medieval Latin ōvulum a little egg, from Latin ōvum egg

Derived forms of ovule

ovular, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for ovule

ovule

[ ō′vyōōl, ŏv′yōōl ]

The female reproductive structure that develops into a seed in a seed-bearing plant. An ovule consists of a megasporangium surrounded by one or two layers of tissue called integuments. The megasporangium produces spores that develop into megagametophytes. These megagametophytes remain within the tissues of the ovule and produce one or more egg cells. Sperm from pollen grains enter the ovule through an opening called a micropyle and fertilize the egg cells. The resulting embryo then begins to develop within the ovule, which becomes a seed. Among the conifers and cycads, the ovules are typically found in pairs on scales in the female cones. The ovules of angiosperms are contained in a structure called the ovary within in the flower. See more at flower gametophyte megasporogenesis pollination.

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