Table redefinition is started by the DBA creating an interim table based on the original table. The interim table can have a different structure than the original table, and will eventually take the original table‘s place in the database. While the table is redefined, DML operations on the original table are captured in a Materialized View Log table (MLOG$_%). These changes are eventually transformed and merged into the interim table. When done, the names of the original and the interim tables are swapped in the data dictionary. At this point all users will be working on the new table and the old table can be dropped.
oracle_online table redefinition_2
原文：http://blog.51cto.com/7499131/2107004