‖apophysis|əˈpɒfɪsɪs|Pl. -es. Also 7–8 apophyse.[a.Gr.ἀπόϕυσις off-shoot,f.ἀπό from + ϕύσις growth.Cf.Fr.apophyse, also used in English in 17–18th c.]1.Phys.A natural protuberance or process, arising from, and forming a continuous part of, a bone; esp.one of the processes on the spinal vertebræ.1611Cotgr.,Procés..the Processe, Apophyse, or outstanding part of a bone.1646Sir T. BrownePseud.Ep.181Such[fish]as have the Apophyses of their spine made laterally like a combe.1753Phil.Trans.XLVIII. 32The rocky apophyse of the ear bone.1847–9ToddCycl.Anat.&Phys.IV. 370/2The paramastoid apophysis is dilated.2.Bot.A dilatation of the base of the theca or spore-case in some mosses.1794MartynRousseau'sBot.xxxii. 493A kind of receptacle..called by Linnæus Apophysis, by Haller the Disk.1863BerkeleyBrit.Mosses iii. 22In an early stage of growth..the apophysis belongs quite as much to the stem as the sporangium.3.Geol.A branch from the main mass of an intrusive igneous rock.1888F. H. Hatch in J. J. H. TeallBrit.Petrogr.424Apophysis, a vein or branch from the main mass (boss or dyke) of an igneous rock.1893A. GeikieGeol.(ed.3) iv. vii. 580All over the world it is common for eruptive bosses of this rock to have a fringe of intrusive veins (Apophyses).1925B. N. Odell in E. F. NortonFight for Everest, 1924 293Thoroughly metamorphosed and crystalline limestone resting on the schorl granite, which sent off apophyses into it.