n.; pl. Amorphas [ Gr. &unr_; shapeless. ] (Bot.) A genus of leguminous shrubs, having long clusters of purple flowers; false or bastard indigo. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Amorphous. ] A state of being amorphous; esp. a state of being without crystallization even in the minutest particles, as in glass, opal, etc. There are stony substances which, when fused, may cool as glass or as stone; the glass state is spoken of as a state of amorphism. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. any plant of the genus Amorphophallus. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. [ Gr. &unr_;; 'a priv. + morfh` form. ] 1. Having no determinate form; of irregular; shapeless. Kirwan. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Without crystallization in the ultimate texture of a solid substance; uncrystallized. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Of no particular kind or character; anomalous. [ 1913 Webster ]

Scientific treatises . . . are not seldom rude and amorphous in style. Hare. [ 1913 Webster ]

-- A*mor"phous*ly, adv. -- A*mor"phous*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. pl. [ NL., fr. Gr. &unr_; shapeless; 'a priv. + morfh` form + &unr_; animal. ] (Zool.) Animals without a mouth or regular internal organs, as the sponges. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Zool.) Of or pertaining to the Amorphozoa. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. &unr_;: cf. F. amorphie. See Amorphous. ] Shapelessness. [ Obs. ] Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. &unr_; again + morfh` form. ] 1. A distorted image. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Biol.) A gradual progression from one type to another, generally ascending. Huxley. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Anamorphosis + -scope. ] An instrument for restoring a picture or image distorted by anamorphosis to its normal proportions. It usually consists of a cylindrical mirror. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

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. Same as Anamorphosis. [ 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. [ See Metamorphosis. ] 1. Subject to change; changeable; variable. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Causing a change of structure. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Geol.) Pertaining to, produced by, or exhibiting, certain changes which minerals or rocks may have undergone since their original deposition; -- especially applied to the recrystallization which sedimentary rocks have undergone through the influence of heat and pressure, after which they are called metamorphic rocks. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Geol.) The state or quality of being metamorphic; the process by which the material of rock masses has been more or less recrystallized by heat, pressure, etc., as in the change of sedimentary limestone to marble. Murchison. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Eccl.) One who believes that the body of Christ was merged into the Deity when he ascended. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To metamorphose. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Metamorphosed p. pr. & vb. n. Metamorphosing. ] [ Cf. F. métamorphoser. ] To change into a different form; to transform; to transmute. [ 1913 Webster ]

And earth was metamorphosed into man. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. métamorphose. See Metamorphosis. ] Same as Metamorphosis. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who metamorphoses. [ R. ] Gascoigne. [ 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 ]

adj. 1. not metamorphic. Opposite of metamorphic. [ Narrower terms: ametabolic metamorphosis) ] [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. (Geol.) not produced by metamorphosis. metamorphic [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. That which assumes, or exists in, all forms. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Panta- + Gr. morfh` form. ] Taking all forms. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Pref. para- + Gr. morfh` form. ] 1. (Min.) A kind of pseudomorph, in which there has been a change of physical characters, by a change in crystal structure without alteration of chemical composition, as the change of aragonite to calcite; called also allomorph. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

2. (Biol.) A taxonomic variant observed within a species, for which a more specific term has not been assigned. [ PJC ]

-- par`a*mor"phic, a. -- par`a*mor"phous, a. [ PJC ]

n. (Min.) The change of one mineral species to another, so as to involve a change in physical characters without alteration of chemical composition. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Min.) Relating to paramorphism; exhibiting paramorphism. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Tetra- + Gr. morfh` form, figure: cf. Gr. &unr_; fourfold. ] (Christian Art) The union of the four attributes of the Evangelists in one figure, which is represented as winged, and standing on winged fiery wheels, the wings being covered with eyes. The representations of it are evidently suggested by the vision of Ezekiel (ch. i.) [ 1913 Webster ]