The Collaborative International Dictionary
parent \par"ent\ (p[^a]r"ent or p[=a]r"ent; 277), n. [L. parens, -entis; akin to parere to bring forth; cf. Gr. porei^n to give, beget: cf. F. parent. Cf. Part.]
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One who begets, or brings forth, offspring; a father or a mother.
Children, obey your parents in the Lord.
--Eph. vi. 1. -
That which produces; cause; source; author; begetter; as, idleness is the parent of vice.
Regular industry is the parent of sobriety.
--Channing.Parent cell. (Biol.) See Mother cell, under Mother, also Cytula.
Parent nucleus (Biol.), a nucleus which, in cell division, divides, and gives rise to two or more daughter nuclei. See Karyokinesis, and Cell division, under Division.
Usage examples of "parent cell".
When an animal is ready to reproduce, its germ-cellsor reproductive cellseach divide into two daughter cells called gametes, each daughter cell possessing one-half the chromosomes of the parent cell, every chromosome in each gamete corresponding to an opposite number chromosome in the other.
If, in a given small constellation of male gametes, enough members are examined to determine that they all stem from the same parent cell, then we may examine in minute detail the group producing the sex we do not want.