| metasilicate | <chemistry> A salt of metasilicic acid. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| metasilicic | <chemistry> Designating an acid derived from silicic acid by the removal of water; of or pertaining to such an acid. The salts of metasilicic acid are often called bisilicates, in mineralogy, as Wollastonite (CaSiO3). <chemistry> Metasilicic acid, a gelatinous substance, or white amorphous powder, analogous to carbonic acid, and forming many stable salts. Origin: Pref. Meta- + silicic. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| metasomatism | <geology> An alteration in a mineral or rock mass when involving a chemical change of the substance, as of chrysolite to serpentine; opposed to ordinary metamorphism, as implying simply a recrystallization. Metasomat"ic. Origin: Pref. Meta- + Gr, body. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| metasome | <zoology> One of the component segments of the body of an animal. Origin: Pref. Meta- + -some body. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| metastable | 1. Of uncertain stability; in a condition to pass into another phase when slightly disturbed; e.g., water, when cooled below the freezing point may remain liquid but will at once congeal if a piece of ice is added. 2. Denoting the excited condition of the nucleus of a radionuclide isomer that reaches a lower energy state by the process of isomeric transition decay without changing its atomic number or weight; e.g., 99m99mTc → 9999Tc + g. Origin: meta-+ L. Stabilis, stable (05 Mar 2000) |
| metastannate | <chemistry> A salt of metastannic acid. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| metastannic | <chemistry> Pertaining to, or designating, a compound of tin (metastannic acid), obtained, as an isomeric modification of stannic acid, in the form of a white amorphous substance. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| metastases | <oncology> Cancer that started from cancer cells from another part of the body. For example: cancer that starts in the breast can spread to the lymph nodes and then be spread throughout the body. (16 Dec 1997) |
| metastases to the liver | <oncology> The spread of cancerous tumours from a distant organ to the liver. Due to the livers tremendous blood and lymphatic supply it is a frequent site for metastatic cancer. Cancers which commonly metastasize to the liver include colon cancer, breast cancer, neuroblastoma, lung cancer and Hodgkin's disease. (27 Sep 1997) |
| metastasis | 1. <cell biology, oncology> The transfer of disease from one organ or part to another not directly connected with it. It may be due either to the transfer of pathogenic microorganisms (for example, tubercle bacilli) or to transfer of cells, as in malignant tumours. The capacity to metastasize is a characteristic of all malignant tumours. 2. Pleural: metastases. A growth of pathogenic microorganisms or of abnormal cells distant from the site primarily involved by the morbid process. Origin: Gr. Stasis = stand, stoppage (12 Nov 1997) |
| metastasize | <oncology> To spread to another part of the body, usually through the blood vessels, lymph channels or spinal fluid. (16 Dec 1997) |
| metastasizing septicaemia | Sepsis, with entry of microorganisms into the blood stream leading to abscess formation at a distance from the original site of infection. (05 Mar 2000) |
| metastatic | Spread of a disease from the organ or tissue of origin to another part of the body. (16 Dec 1997) |
| metastatic abscess | A secondary abscess formed, at a distance from the primary focus, as a result of the transportation of pyogenic bacteria by the lymph or bloodstream. (05 Mar 2000) |
| metastatic brain tumour | A malignant growth in brain tissue that has spread from another primary cancer site (for example breast cancer, malignant melanoma, lung cancer) in the body. (27 Sep 1997) |