intussusception

in·tus·sus·cep·tion  (nt-s-spshn)

n.

1. Medicine Invagination, especially an infolding of one part of the intestine into another.

2. Biology Assimilation of new substances into the existing components of living tissue.

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[Medieval Latin intussuscepti, intussusceptin-, a taking in, admission, from intussusceptus, past participle of intussuscipere, to take in : Latin intus, within; see en in Indo-European roots + Latin suscipere, to take up (sub-, sub- + capere, to take; see kap- in Indo-European roots).]

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intussusception

the process by which food or other matter is taken into the body and converted into tissue. Also introsusception. — intussusceptive, adj.

See also: Bodily Functions

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	intussusception - the folding in of an outer layer so as to form a pocket in the surface; "the invagination of the blastula" infolding, introversion, invagination biological process, organic process - a process occurring in living organisms
	2.	intussusception - (biology) growth in the surface area of a cell by the deposit of new particles between existing particles in the cell wall biological science, biology - the science that studies living organisms growing, growth, ontogenesis, ontogeny, maturation, development - (biology) the process of an individual organism growing organically; a purely biological unfolding of events involved in an organism changing gradually from a simple to a more complex level; "he proposed an indicator of osseous development in children"