spawn
See also: Spawn
English
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /spɔːn/
Audio (UK) (file)
- (US) IPA(key): /spɔn/
- (cot–caught merger) IPA(key): /spɑn/
- (Southern American English) IPA(key): /spɑɒn/
- Rhymes: -ɔːn, Rhymes: -ɑn
Etymology 1
Recorded since 1413; from Middle English spawnen, from Anglo-Norman espaundre, from Old French espandre, from Latin expandere (“stretch out; spread out”, verb). Doublet of expand. Compare also Middle English spalden, spolden, spawden (“to cut open (a fish)”).
Verb
spawn (third-person singular simple present spawns, present participle spawning, simple past and past participle spawned)
- (transitive) To produce or deposit (eggs) in water.
- (transitive) To generate, bring into being, especially non-mammalian beings in very large numbers.
- (transitive) To bring forth in general.
- The Web server spawns a new process to handle each client's request.
- (transitive) To induce (aquatic organisms) to spawn.
- (transitive) To plant with fungal spawn.
- (intransitive) To deposit (numerous) eggs in water.
- 2014 April 20, Richard Conniff, “An evolutionary family drama”, in The New York Times:
- Alewives are anadromous fish: Born in freshwater, they spend their lives in the ocean, returning annually to their birthplaces to spawn.
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- (intransitive) To reproduce, especially in large numbers.
- (ergative, video games, of a character or object) (To cause) to appear spontaneously in a game at a certain point and time.
Derived terms
Derived terms
- despawn
- respawn
- spawnable
- spawner
- spawn point
- spawny
- unspawned
Translations
to produce or deposit (eggs) in water
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to generate, bring into being, especially non-mammalian beings in very large numbers
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to bring forth in general
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to induce (aquatic organisms) to spawn
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to plant with fungal spawn
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to deposit (numerous) eggs in water
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to reproduce, especially in large numbers
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to appear spontaneously in a game at a certain point and time
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Etymology 2
From Middle English spawne, from the verb (see above).
Noun
spawn (countable and uncountable, plural spawn or spawns)
- The numerous eggs of an aquatic organism.
- Mushroom mycelium prepared for (aided) propagation.
- (by extension, sometimes derogatory) Any germ or seed, even a figurative source; offspring.
- 2012 June 3, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Mr. Plow” (season 4, episode 9; originally aired 11/19/1992)”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name):
- Even the blithely unselfconscious Homer is more than a little freaked out by West’s private reverie, and encourages his spawn to move slowly away without making eye contact with the crazy man.
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- (horticulture) The buds or branches produced from underground stems.
- (video games) The location in a game where characters or objects spontaneously appear.
Derived terms
- hellspawn
Translations
the numerous eggs of an aquatic organism
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mushroom mycelium prepared for (aided) propagation
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any germ or seed, even a figurative source; offspring
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videogames
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Anagrams
- WPANs, pawns