metabolism

n. process in which food is converted to provide energy and to produce and maintain cells and tissues (Physiology, Chemistry)

Metabolism is the complete set of chemical reactions that occur in living cells. These processes are the basis of life, allowing cells to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments. Metabolism is usually divided into two categories. Catabolism yields energy, an example being the breakdown of food in cellular respiration. Anabolism, on the other hand, uses this energy to construct components of cells such as proteins and nucleic acids.
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Metabolism /me·tab·o·lism/ 1. the sum of all the physical and chemical processes by which living organized substance is produced and maintained, and [more]Metabolism - Community and Resources

Noun
1. the marked and rapid transformation of a larva into an adult that occurs in some animals
(synonym) metamorphosis
(hypernym) organic process, biological process
(hyponym) hemimetamorphosis, hemimetabolism, hemimetaboly
2. the organic processes (in a cell or organism) that are necessary for life
(synonym) metabolic process, metastasis
(hypernym) organic process, biological process
(hyponym) respiration, internal respiration, cellular respiration
(part-meronym) anabolism, constructive metabolism
(derivation) metabolize, metabolise
(classification) organism, being

(n.)
The act or process, by which living tissues or cells take up and convert into their own proper substance the nutritive material brought to them by the blood, or by which they transform their cell protoplasm into simpler substances, which are fitted either for excretion or for some special purpose, as in the manufacture of the digestive ferments. Hence, metabolism may be either constructive (anabolism), or destructive (katabolism).