Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The tangle of filaments that appears at the beginning of the prophase portion of meiosis or mitosis.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The stage of the nucleus in karyokinesis, or mitosis, during which the chromatin assumes the form of a continuous or segmented thread.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[German Spirem, from Greek speirēma, coil, from speirāsthai, to be coiled around, from speira, coil.]

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Examples

  • Flemming, on the other hand, clung to his erroneous view that all the chromosomes are at first united into one long continu - ous thread, a “spireme,” which later breaks up into the separate chromosomes.

    GENETIC CONTINUITY BENTLEY GLASS 1968

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