Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An adherent of the doctrine of incasement in the female: the opposite of spermist or animalculist. Also ovist. See incasement.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Biol.) A believer in the theory (called encasement theory), current during the last century, that the egg was the real animal germ, and that at the time of fecundation the spermatozoa simply gave the impetus which caused the unfolding of the egg, in which all generations were inclosed one within the other. Also called ovist.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun biology, historical A believer in the theory (called "encasement theory") that the egg was the real animal germ, and that at the time of fecundation the spermatozoa simply gave the impetus which caused the unfolding of the egg, in which all generations were enclosed one within the other.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

ovule +‎ -ist

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Examples

  • Haller, the ovulist, who had great authority as a physiologist, in a famous work, _Elementa physiologiae_, upheld the principle vigorously:

    Spontaneous Activity in Education Maria Montessori 1911

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