AUTOTOMY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Spontaneous removal or casting off of a body part (as the tail of a lizard or claw of a lobster) especially when the organism is injured or under attack

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("autotomy" is a kind of...):

remotion; removal (the act of removing)

Derivation:

autotomic (of or relating to autotomy)

autotomize (cause a body part to undergo autotomy)

Credits