maceration

1. Softening by the action of a liquid. 2. Softening of tissues after death by nonputrefactive (sterile) autolysis; seen especially in the stillborn, with detachment of the epidermis. [L. macero, pp. -atus, to soften by soaking]

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mac·er·a·tion .mas-ə-'rā-shən n

1) an act or the process of macerating something esp the extraction of a drug by allowing it to stand in contact with a solvent

2) the condition of being macerated <the fetus was recovered in an advanced state of \maceration>

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n.

1. the softening of a solid by leaving it immersed in a liquid.

2. (in obstetrics) the natural breakdown of a dead fetus within the uterus.

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mac·er·a·tion (mas″ər-aґshən) [L. maceratio] 1. the softening of a solid by soaking. 2. in histology, the softening of a tissue by soaking, especially in acids, until the connective tissue fibers are so dissolved that the tissue components can be teased apart. 3. in obstetrics, the degenerative changes with discoloration and softening of tissues, and eventual disintegration, of a fetus retained in the uterus after its death.