egg-cleavage

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The segmentation of the vitellus of an egg: cell-cleavage of an egg-cell; the germination of an ovum, ovule, or egg from the stage of a cytula to that of a morula. It is one of the earliest processes of germination, in which the single mass of the formative yolk is divided into a great number of other masses or cells, by subsequent differentiation of which the whole body of the embryo is formed. Egg-cleavage proceeds in various “rhythms” or ratios, as 2,4,8,16, etc.