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Chambers (1908)

Metamorphic

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[Gr. metamorphōsis—meta, expressing change, morphē, form.]

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Metamorphic, met-a-mor′fik, adj. subject to change of form: (geol.) applied to the alteration undergone by rocks under heat, pressure, &c., so that they assume a crystalline or semi-crystalline structure.—ns. Metamor′phism, state or quality of being metamorphic; Metamor′phist, one who believes that the body of Christ merged into the Deity when He ascended.—v.t. Metamor′phose, to transform.—n. Metamor′phosis, change of shape, transformation: the frequent transformation of human beings to beasts, stones, trees, &c.—an essential part of folklore everywhere: the marked change which some living beings undergo in the course of their growth, as caterpillar to insect, tadpole to frog, &c.:—pl. Metamor′phoses. [Gr. metamorphōsis—meta, expressing change, morphē, form.]

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Chambers’s Twentieth Century Dictionary of the English Language
Thomas Davidson (editor)
1908

Public-domain-US ↗ · United States

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