n. 1. (Biol.) A process which, among some of the lower forms of life, precedes reproduction by budding, fission, spore formation, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The animal (a) first contracts its body to a globular mass (b) and then secretes a transparent cyst (c), after which the mass divides into two or more parts (as in d e), each of which attains freedom by the bursting of the cyst, and becomes an individual animal. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zoöl.) A process by which many internal parasites, esp. in their larval states, become inclosed within a cyst in the muscles, liver, etc. See Trichina. [ 1913 Webster ]