▪ I. excretion1
(ɛkˈskriːʃən)
[(? a. Fr. excrétion) ad. L. excrētiōn-em, n. of action f. excērnĕre to sift out, separate: see excrete.]
The action or process of excreting.
1. Separation of animal products (chiefly, those useless for nutrition) from the blood.
| 1605 Timme Quersit. iii. 148 Excretion, or separating in bodies of superfluities and excrements. 1691 Ray Creation ii. (1692) 115 The constant separation and excretion whereof [Urine] is necessary for the preservation of Life. 1731 Arbuthnot Aliments 14 The common Symptoms of the Excretion of the Bile being vitiated, are a yellowish Colour of the Skin..a loss of Appetite, [etc.] 1859 Todd Cycl. Anat. V. 488/2 Calcareous integument formed by excretion. |
b. An analogous process in plants.
| 1862 Darwin Fertil. Orchids vi. 278 The secretion acts also..as an excretion. 1876 ― Cross-Fertil. x. 403 The excretion [of a sweet fluid] manifestly depends on changes in the sap. |
c. Of the teeth: The (supposed) formation of the teeth by matter ‘excreted’ from the pulp. Hence attrib. in excretion-theory.
| 1812 Cuvier Les Ossemens Fossiles, Elephans 65 Les substances dont se composent les dents se forment toutes par excrétion et par couches. transl. (ed. 4, 1835) 198 Formed by excretion and by layers. 1839 Nasmyth Research. Teeth 28 He [Cuvier] holds that the different substances which constitute the teeth are formed by excretion and in layers. 1854 Owen Skel. & Teeth (1855) 292 The ‘excretion theory’ of dental development. |
2. The action of casting out of the body that which has been separated by any of the organs; esp. evacuation of the bowels.
| 1640 Erotomania 51 Excretion, or Retention. 1645 Milton Tetrach. (1851) 170 The fleshly act..beeing at best but an animal excretion. 1658 Rowland Moufet's Theat. Ins. 1122 Children are continually provoked to excretion. 1732 Arbuthnot Rules of Diet 274 What stimulates and promotes the Excretion of the Blood. 1865 Englishman's Mag. Oct. 297 A common central aperture, through which the functions of secretion and excretion are carried on. |
3. concr. That which is separated and ejected from the body.
| 1630 R. Brathwait Eng. Gentl. (1641) 60 None held it then a grace to have..the very excretions of beasts to sent them. a 1682 Sir T. Browne Tracts 113 In hawks and cormorants I have sometimes observed bloody excretions. 1802 Paley Nat. Theol. xix. (1803) 366 The aptness of this excretion [slime] to the purpose. 1842 Abdy Water Cure (1843) 21 A slight yellow excretion, by which morbific matter is eliminated. 1872 Huxley Phys. i. 3 Those products which are thrown out of the body, and are called excretions. |
▪ II. † exˈcretion2 Obs.
[as if ad. L. *excrētiōn-em, n. of action f. excrēscĕre to grow out or forth, f. ex- out + crēscĕre to grow.]
a. The action of growing out or forth. b. concr. Anything that grows out (whether naturally or abnormally) in animals or plants; = excrement2, excrescence. Also fig.
| 1612–5 Bp. Hall Contempl., O.T. x. v, [Samson] had ceased to be a Nazarite..not for the want of that excretion [his hair]. 1627–77 Feltham Resolves ii. xlv. 247 The excretions of the Body grow but insensibly. 1633 T. Adams Exp. 2 Peter i. 16 From her..shave and pare off..those superfluous excretions of sin. 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Splint, The Cure of all Splints and boney Excretions. |