Word Study
encystment
CIDE DICTIONARY
encystment, n.
- A process which, among some of the lower forms of life, precedes reproduction by budding, fission, spore formation, etc. [1913 Webster]" The animal (
a ) first contracts its body to a globular mass (b ) and then secretes a transparent cyst (c ), after which the mass divides into two or more parts (as ind e ), each of which attains freedom by the bursting of the cyst, and becomes an individual animal." [1913 Webster] - A process by which many internal parasites, esp. in their larval states, become inclosed within a cyst in the muscles, liver, etc. See Trichina. [1913 Webster]
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