Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To lay eggs, especially by means of an ovipositor.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To lay eggs; specifically, in entomology, to deposit eggs with an ovipositor, as an insect.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To deposit or lay (an egg).
- intransitive verb To lay or deposit eggs; -- said esp. of insects.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb intransitive To
lay eggs
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word oviposit.
Examples
-
Have you seen the strikingly-colored Rhagoletis walnut flies that oviposit in the fruit?
Black walnut experience AYDIN 2008
-
Empedocles puts this well in the line: ‘and thus the tall trees oviposit; first olives ...’
-
The oils are active against eggs and larvae and disable females to oviposit.
-
Third, the deep water protects parts of the rice plant on which rice planthoppers oviposit and feed.
Chapter 6 1995
-
First, the rice planthoppers normally oviposit on plant leaves near the bottom of the plant.
Chapter 6 1995
-
When the husk was pricked a slight flow of juice would take place and the male flies would soon find the spot, and, recognizing, I suppose, a suitable place for the females to come to oviposit, they would stand guard at the puncture awaiting the coming of the female.
-
So closely confined are these weevils to their particular food plants that many of them distinguish between the different species of oak and will oviposit only in certain kinds of acorns.
-
In this way females were reared out of one host species and allowed to oviposit in others, until, often after several hosts had been employed, it would be bred back into the species whence it first originated.
Q. E. D., or New Light on the Doctrine of Creation George McCready Price
-
The paper claimed that the curious shape of the egg compelled the female to oviposit slowly, as it took time for the egg to assume its form; hence, the eggs were not laid in strings or masses, but singly and at considerable intervals.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 447, July 26, 1884 Various
-
The beetles appear outside in April and May, and probably oviposit soon afterward.
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.