Intussusception

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Intussusception \In`tus*sus*cep"tion\, n. [L. intus within +
     susception. Cf. {Introsusception}.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. The reception of one part within another.
        [1913 Webster]
  


     2. (Med.) The abnormal reception or slipping of a part of a
        tube, by inversion and descent, within a contiguous part
        of it; specifically, the reception or slipping of the
        upper part of the small intestine into the lower;
        introsusception; invagination. --Dunglison.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. (Bot.) The interposition of new particles of formative
        material among those already existing, as in a cell wall,
        or in a starch grain.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. (Physiol.) The act of taking foreign matter, as food, into
        a living body; the process of nutrition, by which dead
        matter is absorbed by the living organism, and ultimately
        converted into the organized substance of its various
        tissues and organs.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Dead bodies increase by apposition; living bodies by
              intussusception.                      --McKendrick.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  intussusception
       n 1: the folding in of an outer layer so as to form a pocket in
            the surface; "the invagination of the blastula" [syn: {invagination},
             {introversion}, {infolding}]
       2: (biology) growth in the surface area of a cell by the
          deposit of new particles between existing particles in the
          cell wall