Met`a*zo"a (?), n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr. after + an animal.] Zool.

Those animals in which the protoplasmic mass, constituting the egg, is converted into a multitude of cells, which are metamorphosed into the tissues of the body. A central cavity is commonly developed, and the cells around it are at first arranged in two layers, -- the ectoderm and endoderm. The group comprises nearly all animals except the Protozoa.

© Webster 1913.