Definition of Digestion

1. Noun. The process of decomposing organic matter (as in sewage) by bacteria or by chemical action or heat.

Generic synonyms: Chemical Action, Chemical Change, Chemical Process
Derivative terms: Digest

2. Noun. The organic process by which food is converted into substances that can be absorbed into the body.
Specialized synonyms: Gastric Digestion
Generic synonyms: Biological Process, Organic Process
Derivative terms: Digest

3. Noun. Learning and coming to understand ideas and information. "His appetite for facts was better than his digestion"
Generic synonyms: Acquisition, Learning
Derivative terms: Digest

Definition of Digestion

1. n. The act or process of digesting; reduction to order; classification; thoughtful consideration.

Definition of Digestion

1. Noun. The process, in the gastrointestinal tract, by which food is converted into substances that can be utilized by the body. ¹

2. Noun. The result of this process. ¹

3. Noun. The ability to use this process. ¹

4. Noun. The processing of decay in organic matter assisted by microorganisms. ¹

5. Noun. The assimilation and understanding of ideas. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Digestion

1. [n -S]

Medical Definition of Digestion

1. 1. The act or process of digesting; reduction to order; classification; thoughtful consideration. 2. The conversion of food, in the stomach and intestines, into soluble and diffusible products, capable of being absorbed by the blood. 3. Generation of pus; suppuration. Origin: F. Digestion, L. Digestio. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Digestion

digermane
digermanes
digest
digestant
digested
digestedly
digester
digesters
digestibilities
digestibility
digestible
digestibleness
digestif
digestifs
digesting
digestion (current term)
digestions
digestive
digestive apparatus
digestive biscuit
digestive enzymes
digestive fever
digestive fluid
digestive gland
digestive glycosuria
digestive juice
digestive leukocytosis
digestive physiology
digestive system

Literary usage of Digestion

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The American Journal of the Medical Sciences by Southern Society for Clinical Investigation (U.S.) (1836)
"That the cereal digestion may take place, ii is necessary that the still digestible remains of the food should be rendered acid and changed into chyme, ..."

2. Principles of General Physiology by William Maddock Bayliss (1920)
"CHAPTER XII digestion THB great majority of the materials tak^n in as food by animals require treatment of some kind in order to-enable them to be carried ..."

3. A Text-book of Physiology for Medical Students and Physicians by William Henry Howell (1911)
"In studying peptic digestion it is not necessary for all purposes to establish a gastric fistula. The active agents of the normal juice are pepsin and an ..."

4. Elements of the Comparative Anatomy of Vertebrates by Gustav Mann, Walther Löb, Henry William Frederic Lorenz, Robert Wiedersheim, William Newton Parker, Thomas Jeffery Parker, Harry Clary Jones, Sunao Tawara, Leverett White Brownell, Max Julius Louis Le Blanc, Willis Rodney Whitney, John Wesley Brown, Wi (1906)
"If that portion of a proteid which is not acted upon by a prolonged digestion with pepsin-hydrochloric acid is subsequently subjected to tryptic digestion, ..."

5. Clinical Hematology: A Practical Guide to the Examination of the Blood with by John C. DaCosta (1901)
"digestion Leucocytosis. Within an hour after taking food an appreciable increase in ... In individuals whose process of digestion is slow from any cause the ..."

6. A Text book of physiology by Michael Foster (1894)
"The appearance of fibrin undergoing pancreatic digestion is however different from that undergoing peptic digestion. In the former case the fibrin does not ..."

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