What is "spawn"

Spawn \Spawn\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Spawned; p. pr. & vb. n. Spawning.] [OE. spanen, OF. espandre, properly, to shed, spread, L. expandere to spread out. See Expand.]

1. To produce or deposit (eggs), as fishes or frogs do.

2. To bring forth; to generate; -- used in contempt.

   One edition [of books] spawneth another.
   --Fuller.

Spawn \Spawn\, v. i.

1. To deposit eggs, as fish or frogs do.

2. To issue, as offspring; -- used contemptuously.

Spawn \Spawn\, n. [[root]170. See Spawn, v. t.]

1. The ova, or eggs, of fishes, oysters, and other aquatic animals.

2. Any product or offspring; -- used contemptuously.

3. (Hort.) The buds or branches produced from underground stems.

4. (Bot.) The white fibrous matter forming the matrix from which fungi.

   Spawn eater (Zo["o]l.), a small American cyprinoid fish ( Notropis Hudsonius) allied to the dace.

c.1400, intransitive, from Anglo-French espaundre, Old French espandre "to spread out, pour out, scatter, strew, spawn (of fish)" (Modern French épandre), from Latin expandere (see expand). The notion is of a "spreading out" of fish eggs released in water. The transitive meaning "to engender, give rise to" is attested from 1590s. Related: Spawned; spawning.

late 15c., "fish eggs," from spawn (v.); figurative sense of "brood, offspring," and, insultingly, of persons, is from 1580s.

n. 1 The numerous eggs of an aquatic organism. 2 Mushroom mycelium prepared for (aided) propagation. 3 (context by extension sometimes derogatory English) Any germ or seed, even a figurative source; offspring. vb. 1 (context transitive English) To produce or deposit (eggs) in water. 2 (context transitive English) To generate, bring into being, especially non-mammalian beings in very large numbers. 3 (context transitive English) To bring forth in general. 4 (context transitive English) To induce (aquatic organisms) to spawn 5 (context transitive English) To plant with fungal spawn 6 (context intransitive English) To deposit (numerous) eggs in water. 7 (context intransitive English) To reproduce, especially in large numbers. 8 (context ergative video games of a character or object English) (To cause) to appear spontaneously in a game at a certain point and time.

1. n. the mass of eggs deposited by fish or amphibians or molluscs

2. v. call forth [syn: engender, breed]

3. lay spawn; "The salmon swims upstream to spawn"

SPAWN, the Salmon Protection and Watershed Network, is a project of the Turtle Island Restoration Network (TIRN), a United States 501(c)(3) nonprofit environmental organization.

SPAWN's stated mission is to "protect endangered salmon in the Lagunitas Creek Watershed and the environment on which we all depend." SPAWN uses a multi-faceted approach to accomplish their mission including grassroots action, habitat restoration, policy development, research and monitoring, citizen training, environmental education, strategic litigation, and collaboration with other organizations and agencies.

Spawn, by Konami for the Game Boy Color video game system, is a side-scrolling action based game based on the Spawn comic book character. The game was noted for its extensive use of digitized speech in cutscenes, a largely uncommon feature in Game Boy games.

Spawn is a fictional character, an anti-hero that appears in a monthly comic book of the same name published by Image Comics as well as annual compilations, mini-series specials written by guest authors and artists and numerous cross-over story-lines in other comic books. Created by Todd McFarlane, the character first appeared in Spawn #1 (May 1992). Spawn was ranked 60th on Wizard magazine's list of the Top 200 Comic Book Characters of All Time, 50th on Empire magazine's list of The 50 Greatest Comic Book Characters and 36th on IGN's 2011 Top 100 Comic Book Heroes.

The series has spun off several other comics, including Angela, Curse of the Spawn, Sam & Twitch, and the Japanese manga Shadows of Spawn. Spawn was adapted into a 1997 feature film and portrayed by Michael Jai White, an HBO animated series lasting from 1997 until 1999, and a series of action figures whose high level of detail made McFarlane Toys known in the toy industry.

Spawn is a 1997 American supernatural superhero film based on the comic book character of the same name, written by Todd McFarlane and published by Image Comics. Directed and co-written by Mark A.Z. Dippé, the film stars Michael Jai White in the title role, and is the first film to feature an African American portraying a major comic book superhero. Spawn depicts the origin story of the title character, beginning with the murder of soldier/assassin Al Simmons. He is resurrected as Spawn, the reluctant, demonic leader of Hell's army. He ultimately refuses to lead Hell's army in the war against Heaven and turns away from evil. The film co-stars John Leguizamo (as Clown/The Violator, Al's demonic guide and the film's antagonist) and Nicol Williamson (as Al's mentor, Cogliostro). The film was Williamson's final film appearance before his death on December 16, 2011. Martin Sheen, Theresa Randle, D. B. Sweeney, Melinda Clarke, and Frank Welker (as the voice of Malebolgia) also star in the film.

Spawn was released in the United States on August 1, 1997.

Spawn in computing refers to a function that loads and executes a new child process. The current process may wait for the child to terminate or may continue to execute asynchronously. Creating a new subprocess requires enough memory in which both the child process and the current program can execute.

There is a family of spawn functions in DOS, inherited by Microsoft Windows.

There is also a different family of spawn functions in an optional extension of the POSIX standards .

Spawn is the eggs and sperm released or deposited into water by aquatic animals. As a verb, to spawn refers to the process of releasing the eggs and sperm, and the act of both sexes is called spawning. Most aquatic animals, except for aquatic mammals and reptiles, reproduce through the process of spawning.

Spawn consists of the reproductive cells ( gametes) of many aquatic animals, some of which will become fertilized and produce offspring. The process of spawning typically involves females releasing ova (unfertilized eggs) into the water, often in large quantities, while males simultaneously or sequentially release spermatozoa ( milt) to fertilize the eggs.

Most fish reproduce by spawning, as do most other aquatic animals, including crustaceans such as crabs and shrimps, molluscs such as oysters and squid, echinoderms such as sea urchins and sea cucumbers, amphibians such as frogs and newts, aquatic insects such as mayflies and mosquitoes and corals, which are actually small aquatic animals—not plants. Fungi, such as mushrooms, are also said to "spawn" a white, fibrous matter that forms the matrix from which they grow.

There are many variations in the way spawning occurs, depending on sexual differences in anatomy, how the sexes relate to each other, where and how the spawn is released and whether or how the spawn is subsequently guarded.

Spawn is a 1983 horror novel written by Shaun Hutson.