intussusception

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 ]