A-pŏph'y-sĭs, n.

n. [Gr. ἀπόφυσις, offshoot, esp. in anat., the process of a bone, from ἀποφύεσθαι, to grow from, from ἀπό, from, and φύειν, φύεσθαι, to grow; φύσις, growth.]

1. (Anat.) A process or regular prominence or swelling; a prominent part of a bone, forming a continuous part of the body of the bone, in distinction from epiphysis.
2. (Bot.) The enlargement at the base of the spore-case in some of the mosses. Gray.