catabolism Biol.
(kəˈtæbəlɪz(ə)m)
Also 9 katabolism.
[f. Gr. καταβολ-ή a throwing down (f. καταβάλλειν to throw down) + -ism.]
That phase of the metabolism of living bodies which consists in the breaking down of complex organic compounds into simpler ones; destructive metabolism.
| 1876 Foster Phys. §530 (1888) 807 Wherever destructive metabolism, katabolism, is going on, heat is being set free. 1889 Geddes & Thomson Evol. Sex ii. 27 The male reproduction is associated with preponderating katabolism. 1889 Nature 26 Sept. 525/1 The words in question, ‘anabolism’, which being interpreted means winding up, and ‘catabolism’, running down, are the creation of Dr. Gaskell. Prof. Hering's equivalents for these are ‘assimilation’, which, of course, means storage of oxygen and oxidizable material, and ‘disassimilation’, discharge of these in the altered form of carbon dioxide and water. 1894 Kidd Soc. Evolut. ix. 287 The tendency—by itself disintegrating and destructive—known as katabolism. 1957 [see catabolic]. |