Search the Dictionary

That which grows out of, or proceeds from, anything; an excrescence; an offshoot; hence, a result or consequence.

Bearing the stamens on a discoid outgrowth of the receptacle; - - said of a subclass of plants. Cf. Calycifloral.

Fine, soft, hairy outgrowth from the skin or surface of animals or plants, not matted and fleecy like wool; esp.:

Any unusual outgrowth from the surface of a thing, as of a petal; also, the capacity or act of producing such an outgrowth.

A perivisceral cavity which arises as an outgrowth or outgrowths from the digestive tract; distinguished from a schizocoele, which arises by a splitting of the mesoblast of the embryo.

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.

A slender outgrowth from the chitinous cuticle of insects, spiders, crustaceans, and other invertebrates. Such hairs are totally unlike those of vertebrates in structure, composition, and mode of growth.

A special organ of vegetation in the form of a lateral outgrowth from the stem, whether appearing as a part of the foliage, or as a cotyledon, a scale, a bract, a spine, or a tendril.

One of a sect of Christians, the outgrowth of a small association called the "Holy Club," formed at Oxford University, A.D. 1729, of which the most conspicuous members were John Wesley and his brother Charles; -- originally so called from the methodical strictness of members of the club in all religious duties.…

An outgrowth of the frontal bones, which supports the antlers or horns in deer and allied animals.

To grow exuberantly; to produce fleshy or warty outgrowths; as, a vegetating papule.

An exuberant morbid outgrowth upon any part, especially upon the valves of the heart. Vegetation of salts (Old Chem.), a crystalline growth of an arborescent form.