‖n. [ NL., fr. Gr. mo`rfwsis form, fr. morfh` form. ] (Biol.) The order or mode of development of an organ or part. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. &unr_;, fr. &unr_; to form anew; &unr_; again + &unr_; to form; morfh` form. ] 1. (Persp.) A distorted or monstrous projection or representation of an image on a plane or curved surface, which, when viewed from a certain point, or as reflected from a curved mirror or through a polyhedron, appears regular and in proportion; a deformation of an image. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Biol.) Same as Anamorphism, 2. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Bot.) A morbid or monstrous development, or change of form, or degeneration. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Transformation into the form of a human being. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Hyper- + metamorphosis. ] (Zool.) A kind of metamorphosis, in certain insects, in which the larva itself undergoes remarkable changes of form and structure during its growth. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Changing the form; transforming. [ R. ] Pownall. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Metamorphoses [ L., fr. Gr. &unr_;, fr. &unr_; to be transformed; meta` beyond, over + morfh` form. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Change of form, or structure; transformation. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Biol.) A change in the form or function of a living organism, by a natural process of growth or development; as, the metamorphosis of the yolk into the embryo, of a tadpole into a frog, or of a bud into a blossom. Especially, that form of sexual reproduction in which an embryo undergoes a series of marked changes of external form, as the chrysalis stage, pupa stage, etc., in insects. In these intermediate stages sexual reproduction is usually impossible, but they ultimately pass into final and sexually developed forms, from the union of which organisms are produced which pass through the same cycle of changes. See Transformation. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Physiol.) The change of material of one kind into another through the agency of the living organism; metabolism. [ 1913 Webster ]

Vegetable metamorphosis (Bot.), the doctrine that flowers are homologous with leaf buds, and that the floral organs are transformed leaves. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ NL. See Phyllo-, Morphosis. ] (Bot.) The succession and variation of leaves during different seasons. R. Brown. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ NL. See Poly-, and Morphosis. ] (Zool.) The assumption of several structural forms without a corresponding difference in function; -- said of sponges, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]