Hypertext Webster Gateway: "metathesis"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Metathesis \Me*tath"e*sis\, n.; pl. {Metatheses}. [L., fr. Gr.
meta`thesis, fr. metatithe`nai to place differently, to
transpose; meta` beyond, over + tithe`nai to place, set. See
{Thesis}.]
1. (Gram.) Transposition, as of the letters or syllables of a
word; as, pistris for pristis; meagre for meager.
2. (Med.) A mere change in place of a morbid substance,
without removal from the body.
3. (Chem.) The act, process, or result of exchange,
substitution, or replacement of atoms and radicals; thus,
by metathesis an acid gives up all or part of its
hydrogen, takes on an equivalent amount of a metal or
base, and forms a salt.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
metathesis
n 1: a linguistic process of transposition of sounds or syllables
within a word or words within a sentence
2: a chemical reaction between two compounds in which parts of
each are interchanged to form two new compounds
(AB+CD=AD+CB) [syn: {double decomposition}, {double
decomposition reaction}]
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