(n) :
the process by which
rocks are changed into other forms by the application of heat and/or pressure; the process by which
insects development through life stages -- as, for example, those of
embryo,
larva,
pupa and
imago. The life cycle of the
butterfly is one of complete metamorphosis, in which the embryo grows within the egg, hatches into the larval stage
caterpillar, enters the pupal stage within its
chrysalis, and finally emerges as an adult butterfly imago