germ, ger me

[Fr. ger me a young shoot, a sprout, from Lat. germen.] I. Ordinary Language : 1. In the same sense as II. 2. That from which anything springs; the origin, source, or first principle of anything. II. Physiol. & Bot . The earliest stage in the existence of an organized being, the embryo or bud from which such a being develops. (Used either of plants or of animals.) (GERMINAL-VESICLE.] germ-cell, s. Bot . Physiol .: An oõsphere, a female cell, a cell which cannot give rise to a new plant unle the power to do so be imparted to it by another cell standing to it in a relation of contrast. germ-epithelium, s. IMG:content-0429.png:[blocks in formation] German-sausage, s. A polony; a large kind of half-cooked sausage.