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Webster 1913 Edition
Assimilation
As-simˊi-la′tion
,Noun.
[L.
assimilatio
: cf. F. assimilation
.] 1.
The act or process of assimilating or bringing to a resemblance, likeness, or identity; also, the state of being so assimilated;
as, the
. assimilation
of one sound to anotherTo aspire to an
assimilation
with God. Dr. H. More.
The
assimilation
of gases and vapors. Sir J. Herschel.
2.
(Physiol.)
The conversion of nutriment into the fluid or solid substance of the body, by the processes of digestion and absorption, whether in plants or animals.
Not conversing the body, not repairing it by
assimilation
, but preserving it by ventilation. Sir T. Browne.
☞ The term assimilation has been limited by some to the final process by which the nutritive matter of the blood is converted into the substance of the tissues and organs.
Webster 1828 Edition
Assimilation
ASSIMILA'TION
,Noun.
1.
The act of bringing to a resemblance.2.
The act or process by which bodies convert other bodies into their own nature and substance; as, flame assimilates oil, and the food of animals is by assimilation converted into the substances which compose their bodies.Mineral assimilation is the property which substances possess, in the earth, of appropriating and assimilating to themselves other substances with which they are in contact; a property which seems to be the basis of the natural history of the earth.