Hypertext Webster Gateway: "ossification"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Ossification \Os`si*fi*ca"tion\, n. [Cf. F. ossification. See
{Ossify}.]
1. (Physiol.) The formation of bone; the process, in the
growth of an animal, by which inorganic material (mainly
lime salts) is deposited in cartilage or membrane, forming
bony tissue; ostosis.
Note: Besides the natural ossification of growing tissue,
there is the so-called accidental ossification which
sometimes follows certain abnormal conditions, as in
the ossification of an artery.
2. The state of being changed into a bony substance; also, a
mass or point of ossified tissue.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
ossification
n 1: the process of bone formation
2: hardened conventionality [syn: {conformity}]
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