Or"gan*ism (?), n. [Cf. F. organisme.]
1.
Organic structure; organization.
"The advantageous
organism of the eye."
Grew.
2. Biol.
An organized being; a living body, either vegetable or animal, compozed of different organs or parts with functions which are separate, but mutually dependent, and essential to the life of the individual.
Some of the lower forms of life are so simple in structure as to be without organs, but are still called organisms, since they have different parts analogous in functions to the organs of higher plants and animals.
© Webster 1913.