digestion

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The process by which food is converted into substances that can be absorbed and assimilated by a living organism. In most animals it is accomplished in the digestive tract by the mechanical and enzymatic breakdown of foods into simpler chemical compounds.
• noun The result of this process.
• noun The ability to digest food.
• noun The process of decomposing organic matter in sewage by bacteria.
• noun Assimilation of ideas or information; understanding.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun Order; arrangement.
• noun The physiological process of converting the food from the state in which it enters the mouth to that in which it can pass from the alimentary canal into the blood-vessels and lymphatics.
• noun The function or power of assimilating nutriment.
• noun In botany: The process carried on in leaves under the action of light, resulting in the decomposition of carbonic acid and the evolution of oxygen.
• noun In insectivorous plants, an action of secreted fluids upon insects or other organic matter, similar to the process of digestion in animals.
• noun In chem.: The operation of exposing bodies to heat to prepare them for some action on each other.
• noun The action ofa solvent on any substance, especially under the influence of heat and pressure; solution; liquefaction. See digester .
• noun The act of methodizing and reducing to order; coördination.
• noun The process of maturing an ulcer or a wound, and disposing it to generate pus; maturation.
• noun The process of dissolution and preparation of substances for manure, as in compost.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun The act or process of digesting; reduction to order; classification; thoughtful consideration.
• noun (Physiol.) The conversion of food, in the stomach and intestines, into soluble and diffusible products, capable of being absorbed by the blood.
• noun (Med.) Generation of pus; suppuration.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun The process, in the gastrointestinal tract, by which food is converted into substances that can be utilized by the body.
• noun The result of this process.
• noun The ability to use this process.
• noun The processing of decay in organic matter assisted by microorganisms.
• noun The assimilation and understanding of ideas.
• noun medicine, archaic generation of pus; suppuration

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun learning and coming to understand ideas and information
• noun the process of decomposing organic matter (as in sewage) by bacteria or by chemical action or heat
• noun the organic process by which food is converted into substances that can be absorbed into the body