\O"vu*list\, n. (Biol.)
A believer in the theory (called encasement theory), current
during the last century, that the egg was the real animal
germ, and that at the time of fecundation the spermatozoa
simply gave the impetus which caused the unfolding of the
egg, in which all generations were inclosed one within the
other. Also called {ovist}.