əˈpäfəsə̇s noun
( plural apophy·ses -əˌsēz)
Etymology: New Latin, from Greek, offshoot, process of a bone, from apo- + -physis (from phyein, phyesthai to grow, produce) — more at be
1. : a process of a bone (as a vertebra)
2. : a swelling of the seta at the base of the capsule of certain mosses often provided with many stomata and functioning as the chief assimilative part of the sporogonium
3. : a swelling on the cone scale of certain conifers
4. of certain fungi : a swollen part of the filament or a swelling of the stalk (as in certain members of the genus Geaster )
5. : an expansion or swelling of the hypha (as that below the sporangium in Mucor )
6. : an offshoot from an intrusive body of igneous rock
7. : a process of the exoskeleton of an insect (as an apodeme or an external spur)