- A cleaving, splitting, or breaking up into parts. - A method of asexual reproduction among the lowest
(unicellular) organisms by means of a process of self-division,
consisting of gradual division or cleavage of the into two parts, each
of which then becomes a separate and independent organisms; as when a
cell in an animal or plant, or its germ, undergoes a spontaneous
division, and the parts again subdivide. See Segmentation, and Cell
division, under Division. - A process by which certain coral polyps, echinoderms,
annelids, etc., spontaneously subdivide, each individual thus forming
two or more new ones. See Strobilation.
Definition
[ n.]