ovist
/ˈəʊvɪst/Biology. Now historical
noun
An advocate of the theory of ovism.
- Although this view characterized the theory of epigenesis as it was set out by William Harvey in his Exercitationes de Generatione Animalium (1651), in the frontispiece of which appears the motto ex ovo omnia (everything from the egg), the term is more often used of supporters of one of the two competing versions of the rival preformationist theory..
adjective
Of, relating to, or characterized by ovism.
Origin
Mid 19th century. From classical Latin ōvum ovum + -ist, probably after French oviste.