▪ I. metamorphose, n.
(mɛtəˈmɔːfəʊs, -fəs)
Also 7 -os.
[Anglicized form of metamorphosis. Cf. F. métamorphose.]
1. = metamorphosis. Now rare.
| 1608 Middleton Fam. Love iv. ii, My Metamorphos is not held vnfit. a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Poems Wks. (1711) 1 What metamorphose strange is this I prove? My self now scarce I find my self to be. 1732 Sir C. Wogan in Swift's Wks. (1841) II. 671 This wonderful metamorphose of mere animals into smart and dexterous fellows, by the change of air. 1810 Splendid Follies II. 116 The evident improvement, and elegant metamorphose the room had undergone. 1865 Mozley Mirac. ii. 47 But thus transmuted, the inductive principle issues out of this metamorphose, a fiction not a truth. 1870 Eng. Mech. 28 Jan. 484/1 The same metamorphose takes place in animals. |
2. A kind of firework.
| 1818 in Pall Mall G. (1885) 5 Nov. 4/2 Superior Fireworks... A metamorphose, with alternate change. |
▪ II. metamorphose, v.
(mɛtəˈmɔːfəʊz, -fəs)
Also 6–7 -oze.
[a. F. métamorphoser (1553 in Hatz-Darm.), f. métamorphose n.: see metamorphosis.]
1. a. trans. To change in form; to turn to or into something else by enchantment or other supernatural means.
| 1576 Gascoigne Del. Diet for Drunkards (1792) 15 They feigned that Medea, Circe, and such other coulde Metamorphose & transforme men into Beastes, Byrdes, Plantes, and Flowres. 1589 Greene Menaphon (Arb.) 40 This..draue Menaphon into such an extasie for ioy, that he stood as a man metamorphozed. 1642 W. Price Serm. 14 Remember Lots wife: she was metamorphoz'd to a pillar of salt. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 21 ¶9 Many of the said Men were by the Force of that Herb metamorphosed into Swine. 1859 Geo. Eliot A. Bede xii, Perhaps they metamorphose themselves into a tawny squirrel. 1874 M. E. Herbert tr. Hübner's Ramble (1878) II. iii. 530 A god metamorphosed into a dragon. |
b. intr. with into.
| 1927 Haldane & Huxley Animal Biol. ix. 180 When the tadpole metamorphoses into the frog, some of its tissues start to dedifferentiate. |
2. (Chiefly transf. and fig. of 1; also gen.) trans. To change the form or character of; to alter the nature or disposition of; to transform. Const. to, into.
| 1576 Gascoigne Del. Diet for Drunkards (1792) 12 For was not Noah..through this beastly vice, so Metamorphosed, that he lay in his Tent uncovered. 1598 Barret Theor. Warres i. i. 2 Long peace, and neglect of Martiall discipline hath metamorphosed manly mindes. 1621 Lady M. Wroth Urania 12, I was at that instant metamorphosed into miserie it selfe. 1741 W. Oldys Eng. Stage vi. 93 They formed a Select Company, and Metamorphosing the Tennis-Court..opened their new Theatre. 1777 Burke Corr. (1844) II. 152 Never were a people so metamorphosed. The plain farmer and even the plain quaker is become a soldier. 1820 W. Irving Sketch Bk. I. 80 He recognised on the sign, the ruby face of King George..but even this was singularly metamorphosed. 1866 Liddon Bampt. Lect. vi. (1875) 344 The regenerate man has been metamorphosed, his moral being is reconstructed. 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. i. viii, This patient..from being the brightest..spirit in the household was metamorphosed into an irresponsive dull-eyed creature. |
3. In scientific applications: To subject to metamorphosis or metamorphism.
| 1664 Power Exp. Philos. i. 27 When she was metamorphos'd into a Locust, I could discern no Mouth in the Microscope. 1665 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 184 The Worm is metamorphosed into a Butter-Fly. 1839–47 Carpenter in Todd's Cycl. Anat. III. 742/2 The wonderful processes of chemical and vital transformation, which take place during the period of incubation [of an egg], the albumen which it contained at first is metamorphosed into bone, cartilage, nerve,..feathers, &c., &c. 1851 Owen in Edin. New Philos. Jrnl. Apr. 271 Before the individual has finally metamorphosed itself into the winged male or winged oviparous female. Ibid. 273 They..become circular flattened pupæ: and are finally metamorphosed into monostomes. 1858 Geikie Hist. Boulder xii. 246 A portion of the shale..has become in consequence highly metamorphosed. 1882 ― Text-bk. Geol. iv. viii. §1. 571 Nearly all rocks..have been metamorphosed. |