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A medicine which eats away extraneous growths; a caustic.

The act of unfolding or unrolling; hence, in the process of growth; development; as, the evolution of a flower from a bud, or an animal from the egg.

An excrescence or appendage; an outgrowth. [Obs.] "Ornamental excrements." Fuller. Living creatures put forth (after their period of growth) nothing that is young but hair and nails, which are excrements and no parts. Bacon.

Anything of foreign origin; something not of native growth, as a plant, a word, a custom. Plants that are unknown to Italy, and such as the gardeners call exotics. Addison.

ate; to accelerate the process or progress of; to hasten; to quicken; as, to expedite the growth of plants. To expedite your glorious march. Milton.

Facing outwards, or away from the axis of growth; -- said esp. of anthers occupying the outer side of the filament.

The thin, new growth around the edge of a shell, of an oyster.

croscopic vegetable organisms, and the fermentations which they engender are due to their growth and development; as, the acetic ferment, the butyric ferment, etc. See Fermentation. Ferments of the second class, on the other hand, are chemical substances, as a rule soluble in glycerin and precipitated by alcohol. In ac…

A second growth of grass; aftergrass.

Leaflike in form or mode of growth; as, a foliaceous coral.

ce to better." Shak. -- Plastic force (Physiol.), the force which presumably acts in the growth and repair of the tissues. -- Vital force (Physiol.), that force or power which is inherent in organization; that form of energy which is the cause of the vital phenomena of the body, as distinguished from the physical for…

ve wood; a large tract of land covered with trees; in the United States, a wood of native growth, or a tract of woodland which has never been cultivated.

A salmon in its fourth year's growth. [Prov. Eng.]

Capable of growth and development; germinal; as, living or formative matter.

Having structure; capable of growth and development; organized; as, the formed or organized ferments. See Ferment, n. Formed material (Biol.), a term employed by Beale to denote the lifeless matter of a cell, that which is physiologically dead, in distinction from the truly germinal or living matter.…

onward; to advance; to promote; to accelerate; to quicken; to hasten; as, to forward the growth of a plant; to forward one in improvement.

To cherish; to promote the growth of; to encourage; to sustain and promote; as, to foster genius.

produced for the nourishment or enjoyment of man or animals by the processes of vegetable growth, as corn, grass, cotton, flax, etc.; -- commonly used in the plural. Six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof. Ex. xxiii. 10.

Having reached the limits of growth; mature. "Full-grown wings." Lowell.

A spongy, morbid growth or granulation in animal bodies, as the proud flesh of wounds. Hoblyn.