[f. as prec. + -ID, or ad. F. spermatozoïde.]
1. Bot. A minute fertilizing body or cell in Cryptogamia and Algæ.
1857. Henfrey, Bot., 511. Spermatozoids are filiform bodies of various forms, mostly presenting one or more spiral curves, or minute globules.
1863. M. J. Berkeley, Brit. Mosses, iii. 18. An oblong sac … filled with cellular tissue, each ultimate cell of which … gives birth to a spermatozoid.
1877. Heath, Fern World, 11. The sperm cells contain minute, active, thread-like bodies called spermatozoids.
2. Phys. = next.
1861. T. R. Jones, Anim. Kingd. (ed. 3), 156. The testicular cæca become filled with granulations,… but these do not contain spermatozoids.
1870. H. A. Nicholson, Man. Zool., 22. A sperm-cell or spermatozoid … is enabled to develop itself into a new individual.
