1.
[syn: invagination, introversion, intussusception, infolding]
2. (biology) growth in the surface area of a cell by the deposit of new particles between existing particles in the cell wall;
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
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]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
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, intussusception,
infolding]
2: (biology) growth in the surface area of a cell by the deposit
of new particles between existing particles in the cell wall