from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Oophore \O"o*phore\, n. [Gr. ? egg-bearing; w,'o`n an egg +
fe`rein to bear.] (Bot.)
An alternately produced form of certain cryptogamous plants,
as ferns, mosses, and the like, which bears antheridia and
archegonia, and so has sexual fructification, as contrasted
with the {sporophore}, which is nonsexual, but produces
spores in countless number. In ferns the oophore is a minute
prothallus; in mosses it is the leafy plant.
[1913 Webster]