Adjacent Words

Pancreas definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PAN'CREAS, n. [Gr. all, and flesh.] A gland of the body situated between the bottom of the stomach and the vertebers of the loins, reaching from the liver to the spleen, and attached to the peritonaeum. It is two fingers in breadth, and six in length, soft and supple. It secretes a kind of saliva and pours it into the duodenum.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a large elongated exocrine gland located behind the stomach; secretes pancreatic juice and insulin

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: New Latin, from Greek pankreas sweetbread, from pan- + kreas flesh, meat — more at raw Date: 1578 a large lobulated gland of vertebrates that secretes digestive enzymes and the hormones insulin and glucagon • pancreatic adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. a gland near the stomach supplying the duodenum with digestive fluid and secreting insulin into the blood. Derivatives: pancreatic adj. pancreatitis n. Etymology: mod.L f. Gk pagkreas (as PAN-, kreas -atos flesh)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Pancreas Pan"cre*as, n. [NL., fr. Gr. ?; ?, ?, all + ? flesh, meat: cf. F. pancr['e]as.] (Anat.) The sweetbread, a gland connected with the intestine of nearly all vertebrates. It is usually elongated and light-colored, and its secretion, called the pancreatic juice, is discharged, often together with the bile, into the upper part of the intestines, and is a powerful aid in digestion. See Illust. of Digestive apparatus.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(pancreases) Your pancreas is an organ in your body that is situated behind your stomach. It produces insulin and substances that help your body digest food. N-COUNT