I. ˈspȯn also -pän verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English spawnen, from Anglo-French espaundre, from Old French espandre, spandre to spread, disperse, from Latin expandere to spread out, expand — more at expand
transitive verb
1.
a. : to produce or deposit (eggs or spawn) — used of an aquatic animal
b. : to induce (fish) to spawn — used especially of an aquarium fish
c. : to strip spawn from (a ripe fish) especially for hatchery rearing of fish
d. : to plant with mycelia of the common edible mushroom mostly in the form of spawn bricks
spawn beds for growing mushrooms
2. : to bring forth : generate , produce
a universe that spawns forth only ghouls and ogres — M.D.Geismar
a blizzard spawned in the Rocky mountains — New York Herald Tribune
impatience and irritation are often spawned by ignorance or misunderstanding — A.E.Stevenson b. 1900
slums which spawn the criminal elements — John Barkham
this ideology is spawned out of Communism — A.W.Barkley
especially : to produce in great quantity
no fewer than 500 private home-study schools … had been spawned — J.M.Flagler
hypotheses might be spawned by the dozens — S.C.Pepper
last year … spawned books by the millions — Harrison Smith
abundant rains, spawning a profusion of desert wild flowers — Los Angeles (Calif.) Examiner
intransitive verb
1. : to deposit spawn
silver fish that … madly push their way upstream to spawn — American Guide Series: Michigan
2.
a. : to give forth young especially in large numbers or like spawn : reproduce
b. : to develop in multitudes or masses
II. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English spawne, from spawnen, v.
1.
a. : the eggs of fishes, oysters, and other aquatic animals that lay many small eggs
b. : the fertilized eggs produced by one pair of fish at one time
2.
a. : any product or offspring
Spanish moss, that peculiar spawn of the South — Henry Miller
our likes and dislikes are often blind, the spawn of instinct or habit — Harry Bear
shooing away young spawns … who wanted the glory of having touched the wonderful red machine — Marcia Davenport
b. : offspring in great numbers or masses : numerous issue
mules are spawn of Satan — Francis Yeats-Brown
the spawn of careless dicta — B.N.Cardozo
3. : the seed, germ, or source of something
democracy was … the very spawn of anarchy — V.L.Parrington
the loom and shuttles made the old lady's garage apartment a spawn of noise — Western Review
4. : the mycelium of fungi especially prepared usually in the form of bricks for propagating mushrooms
5. : gelatinous matter : break 6d
the spawn of an oil