Catabolism

5 definitions found

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

  Metabolism \Me*tab"o*lism\, n. (Physiol.)
     1. The act or process, by which living tissues or cells take
        up and convert into their own proper substance the
        nutritive material brought to them by the blood, or by
        which they transform their cell protoplasm into simpler
        substances, which are fitted either for excretion or for


        some special purpose, as in the manufacture of the
        digestive enzymes. Hence, metabolism may be either
        constructive ({anabolism}), or destructive ({catabolism}).
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Biol.) The series of chemical changes which take place in
        an organism, by means of which food is manufactured and
        utilized and waste materials are eliminated.
        [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

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

  Disassimilation \Dis`as*sim`i*la"tion\, n. (Physics)
     The decomposition of complex substances, within the organism,
     into simpler ones suitable only for excretion, with evolution
     of energy, -- a normal nutritional process the reverse of
     assimilation; downward metabolism; -- now more commonly
     called {catabolism}.
     [1913 Webster +PJC]
  
           The breaking down of already existing chemical
           compounds into simpler ones, sometimes called
           disassimilation.                         --Martin.
     [1913 Webster]

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

  catabolism \catabolism\ n.
     the breakdown of more complex substances into simpler ones
     with release of energy, in living organisms; destructive or
     downward metabolism; -- a form of metabolism, opposed to
     {anabolism}. See also {Disassimilation}. [Formerly spelled
     {katabolism}.]
  
     Syn: katabolism, dissimilation, destructive metabolism.
          [WordNet 1.5]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  catabolism
       n : breakdown of more complex substances into simpler ones with
           release of energy [syn: {katabolism}, {dissimilation}, {destructive
           metabolism}] [ant: {anabolism}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  32 Moby Thesaurus words for "catabolism":
     assimilation, avatar, basal metabolism, catalysis,
     consubstantiation, displacement, heterotopia, metabolism,
     metagenesis, metamorphism, metamorphosis, metastasis, metathesis,
     metempsychosis, mutant, mutated form, mutation, permutation,
     reincarnation, sport, transanimation, transfiguration,
     transfigurement, transformation, transformism, translation,
     translocation, transmigration, transmogrification, transmutation,
     transposition, transubstantiation