Me*tas"ta*sis (?), n.; pl. Metastases (#). [L., transition, fr. Gr. &?;, fr. &?; to place in another way; &?; after + &?; to place.]

1. (Theol.) A spiritual change, as during baptism.

2. (Med.) A change in the location of a disease, as from one part to another. Dunglison.

3. (Physiol.) The act or process by which matter is taken up by cells or tissues and is transformed into other matter; in plants, the act or process by which are produced all of those chemical changes in the constituents of the plant which are not accompanied by a production of organic matter; metabolism.

• the tranferrence of a bodily function or disease to another part of the body, specifically the development of a secondary area of disease remote from the original site, as with some cancers
       *1963: Stayed in her own house, searched her body each morning and examined her conscience each night for progressive symptoms of the metastasis she feared was in her. — Thomas Pynchon, V.