Sportule
(Spor"tule) n. [L. sportula a little basket, a gift, dim. of sporta a basket: cf. F. sortule.] A
charitable gift or contribution; a gift; an alms; a dole; a largess; a sportula. [Obs.] Ayliffe.
Sporulation
(Spor`u*la"tion) n. (Biol.) The act or process of forming spores; spore formation. See Illust.
of Bacillus, b.
Sporule
(Spor"ule) n. [Dim. of spore.] (Biol.) A small spore; a spore.
Sporuliferous
(Spor`u*lif"er*ous) a. [Sporule + -ferous.] (Biol.) Producing sporules.
Spot
(Spot) n. [Cf. Scot. & D. spat, Dan. spette, Sw. spott spittle, slaver; from the root of E. spit.
See Spit to eject from the mouth, and cf. Spatter.]
1. A mark on a substance or body made by foreign matter; a blot; a place discolored.
Out, damned spot! Out, I say!
Shak. 2. A stain on character or reputation; something that soils purity; disgrace; reproach; fault; blemish.
Yet Chloe, sure, was formed without a spot.
Pope. 3. A small part of a different color from the main part, or from the ground upon which it is; as, the spots
of a leopard; the spots on a playing card.
4. A small extent of space; a place; any particular place. "Fixed to one spot." Otway.
That spot to which I point is Paradise.
Milton.
"A jolly place," said he, "in times of old!
But something ails it now: the spot is cursed."
Wordsworth. 5. (Zoöl.) A variety of the common domestic pigeon, so called from a spot on its head just above its
beak.
6. (Zoöl.) (a) A sciænoid food fish (Liostomus xanthurus) of the Atlantic coast of the United States. It
has a black spot behind the shoulders and fifteen oblique dark bars on the sides. Called also goody,
Lafayette, masooka, and old wife. (b) The southern redfish, or red horse, which has a spot on each
side at the base of the tail. See Redfish.
7. pl. Commodities, as merchandise and cotton, sold for immediate delivery. [Broker's Cant]
Crescent spot (Zoöl.), any butterfly of the family Melitæidæ having crescent- shaped white spots along the
margins of the red or brown wings. - - Spot lens (Microscopy), a condensing lens in which the light is
confined to an annular pencil by means of a small, round diaphragm and used in dark-field ilumination; —
called also spotted lens. — Spot rump (Zoöl.), the Hudsonian godwit — Spots on the sun. (Astron.)
See Sun spot, ander Sun. — On, or Upon, the spot, immediately; before moving; without
changing place.
It was determined upon the spot.
Swift. Syn. — Stain; flaw; speck; blot; disgrace; reproach; fault; blemish; place; site; locality. Spot
(Spot), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Spotted; p. pr. & vb. n. Spotting.]
1. To make visible marks upon with some foreign matter; to discolor in or with spots; to stain; to cover
with spots or figures; as, to spot a garnment; to spot paper.
2. To mark or note so as to insure recognition; to recognize; to detect; as, to spot a criminal. [Cant]
