germ cell

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. An ovum or a sperm cell or one of its developmental precursors.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A germ when it is a cell, or has the morphological value of a cell; an impregnated ovum about to germinate, but not yet become more than a single cell; a cytula.
2. n. One of the similar cells of a germinating organism; a cell resulting from segmentation of the vitellus; a blastomere.
3. n. In biology, a reproductive cell; an ovum or spermatozoön: opposed to body cell, or somatic cell.

Wiktionary

1. n. cytology A cell that is part of the germ line: a gametocyte, an ovum or a sperm cell.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Biol.) the germ, egg, spore, or cell from which the plant or animal arises. At one time a part of the body of the parent, it finally becomes detached, and by a process of multiplication and growth gives rise to a mass of cells, which ultimately form a new individual like the parent. See Ovum.
2. (Biol.) A cell, of either sex, directly concerned in the production of a new organism.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a spermatozoon or an ovum; a cell responsible for transmitting DNA to the next generation