Anat. Pl. epiphyses. Also 7 epiphise, -yse. [a. Gr. ἐπίφυσις, f. ἐπί upon + φύσις growth. Cf. F. épiphyse; also used in English in 17th and 18th c.]
1. An extremity or other portion of a long bone that has originated in a center of ossification distinct from the rest. Opposed to APOPHYSIS.
1634. T. Johnson, trans. Parey’s Chirurg., VI. xxvi. (1678), 147. The wand hath two Epiphyses, or Appendices, the one at the upper end, the other at the lower.
1688. Moulen, in Phil. Trans., XVII. 714. The Cartilage had generally an Epiphise or two.
1741. Monro, Anat. (ed. 3), 39. An Epiphyse might be mistaken for a Fracture.
1854. Owen, in Circ. Sc. (c. 1865), II. 47/1. These separately ossified ends being termed ‘epiphyses.’
1872. Mivart, Elem. Anat., ii. 23.
2. abstr. The process of developing such a growth.
1862. Sir H. Holland, Ess., Hum. Longevity, 109. This period of epiphysis, or completion of bony union.
