peristalsis

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments  · 
“
The plant component also stimulates peristalsis which is the contractions of the intestines that leads to the excretion of human waste.

View all »
Definitions (4)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. noun The wavelike muscular contractions of the alimentary canal or other tubular structures by which contents are forced onward toward the opening.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (1)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • And, if their operators stand on their heads, they can even be used to transport materials uphill, for peristalsis is indifferent to gravity. —  Analog December, 1974
  • Your colon is a wonderful organ that facilitates this process with muscles along its entire length moving the foods in wave like motions called peristalsis —  Find Free Articles - ArticlesBase
  • Massachusetts, United States of America Numerous functional studies have shown that nitrergic neurotransmission plays a central role in peristalsis and sphincter relaxation throughout the gut and impaired nitrergic neurotransmission has been implicated in clinical disorders of all parts of the gut. —  PLoS ONE Alerts: New Articles
  • In order to move such long, tapered bodies forward, earthworms exhibit peristalsis, a wave-like motion achieved through rhythmic muscular contractions.
  • Once the food has reached the esophagus, peristalsis takes over. —  CreationWiki - Recent changes [en]
More examples »
 

Tags

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 86 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. New Latin, from Greek peristaltikos, peristaltic, from peristellein, to wrap around : peri-, peri- + stellein, to place; see stel- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. New Latin, from Greek περί, around, + στάλσ, σ1ις, compression, constriction, from στέλλειν,set, place, bring together, bind, compress. Cf. peristaltic.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/pɛrɪˈstælsɪs/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word about once a year.

Recently looked up

Dramatic · bruited · incline · obscuration · recent

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

these grunts every eight hours · haul it off to our darkest dungeon · send for a doctor · forget what witticism you were originally going to insert here because you've just banged your knee on your desk · the rest will come naturally