embryoticadj.

1742 C. Owen Ess. Nat. Hist. Serpents i. ii. 5 'Tis observable that Chickens, while in their dark embryotick State, are nourished by the White alone, till grown big, and then feed on the Yolk, as the stronger Diet.

1771 M. Berdoe Enq. Infl. Electric-fluid 67 This will appear more evident as we proceed in the investigation of the structure of animated beings in the embriotic state.

1835–6 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. I. 786/1 The term of their embryotic development.

1854 H. Miller Schools & Schoolmasters (1866) iv. 31 The crab..is less embryotic..than the more ancient lobster.

1908 Rep. Dept. Fisheries Commonw. Pennsylvania 43 It seemed such a small thing to gather and hatch the eggs and rear the tadpoles safely through the embryotic state and have them develop into perfect frogs.

1983 Cell Biol. Internat. Rep. 7 433 The role of endogenous proteases in cell differentiation during embryotic development did not receive much attention.

2010 Daily Tel. (Austral.) (Nexis) 30 June 34 In respect to abortion, natural law dictates that human life is sacrosanct from its embryotic beginning through to its natural or accidental demise.

1761 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy IV. xix. 131 The book of embryotic evils.

1786 R. Burns Poems & Songs (1968) I. 111 To mark the embryotic trace, Of rustic Bard.

1823 Times 21 Nov. 2/5 Juvenile minds in their embryotic state, can be more readily made acquainted with the elements and principles of philosophy by addressing them in a colloquial manner.

1864 C. Kingsley Roman & Teuton p. xl Intellect and virtue remain..embryotic.

1919 J. F. Genung Guidebk. Biblical Lit. 8 It was, in other words, the embryotic period in the birth of a general human civilization.

2002 S. Hailstock Family Affair viii. 180 She was someone new, an emerging life-form, an embryotic entity that prior to now had not existed.