Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Emboitement \Em`bo[^i]te"ment`\, n. [F., fr. embo[^i]ter to fit
   in, insert; en in + bo[^i]te box.] (Biol.)
   The hypothesis that all living things proceed from
   pre["e]xisting germs, and that these encase the germs of all
   future living things, inclosed one within another. --Buffon.