Definition of "ecdysis" [ec•dy•sis]

• The shedding of an outer integument or layer of skin, as by insects, crustaceans, and snakes; molting. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Spiders grow by shedding their old exoskeleton and replacing it with a larger, less constraining hide, a process known as ecdysis."
• "It's from "ecdysis," a word for the process of shedding one's own skin, snake-style."
• "It might be a good idea to relate strip-teasing in some way to the...zoological phenomenon of molting,...which is ecdysis."