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Common Lisp the Language, 2nd Edition
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The metaclass of an object is the class of its class. The
metaclass determines the representation of instances of its instances
and the forms of inheritance used by its instances for slot descriptions
and method inheritance. The metaclass mechanism can be used to provide
particular forms of optimization or to tailor the Common Lisp Object
System for particular uses. The protocol for defining metaclasses is
discussed in the third part of the CLOS specification, The Common Lisp
Object System Meta-Object Protocol. [The third part has not yet been
approved by X3J13 for inclusion in the forthcoming Common Lisp standard
and is not included in this book.-GLS]
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