peptic, a. and n.
(ˈpɛptɪk)
[ad. Gr. πεπτικός able to digest, f. πεπτ-ός cooked, digested.]
A. adj.
1. Having the quality of digesting; belonging or relating to digestion: = digestive A. 1; used spec. in relation to the digestion in which pepsin is concerned, as in peptic digestion, stomachic or gastric digestion; peptic glands, the glands which secrete the gastric juice; peptic ulcer, an ulcer that is situated in a part of the alimentary tract bathed by the gastric juice, or that is attributed to its digestive action; so peptic ulceration.
| 1651 Biggs New Disp. §295. 218 Not by the intense peptick quality, but by the vigour of the digestible..ferment. 1660 Gauden Sacrilegus 13 Who have good stomachs to both, if they had but..some Peptick power. 1866 Huxley Phys. vi. (1869) 167 These peptic glands which, when food passes into the stomach, throw out a thin acid fluid, the gastric juice. 1878 Foster Phys. ii. i. (1879) 233 Peptic digestion is essentially an acid digestion. 1898 Allbutt's Syst. Med. V. 294 A peptic asthma due to indiscretions in diet. 1900 Dorland Med. Dict. 726/1 Peptic u[lcer]. 1903 tr. Riegel's Dis. Stomach ii. 543 Round ulcer of the stomach. Syn.—Ulcus ventriculi simplex,..peptic ulcer, perforating gastric ulcer. 1929 Hurst & Stewart Gastric & Duodenal Ulcer x. 496 Other forms of œsophageal ulcer..must be excluded before a diagnosis of peptic ulcer can be made. Ibid., Peptic ulceration of the œsophagus. 1955 Sci. News Let. 30 July 3 A child's peptic ulcer may be confused with abdominal migraine, food allergy or other intestinal conditions. 1974 H. J. Dworken Alimentary Tract vi. 88 Certain other elements determine the ability to withstand formation of peptic ulcers, although the mechanism for their action is not know. Susceptibility to gastric ulcer increases with age; duodenal ulcers are more common in men than in women. Ibid., People who live in the north of England..or at high altitudes such as in the Peruvian Andes show increased frequencies of peptic ulceration. |
2. Having the quality of promoting or assisting digestion: = digestive A. 2.
| 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 403 The vertigo, is helped by..peptick powders, if from the stomach. 1828 Blackw. Mag. XXIV. 53 Thanks to a peptic pill of Doctor Kitchiner. |
3. Able to digest; having good digestion: = eupeptic A. 2.
| 1827 Carlyle Germ. Rom. I. 63 A sound peptic stomach does not yield so tamely to the precepts of the head or heart. |
4. ? Pertaining to or caused by suppuration. (Cf. digestive A. 4.)
| 1884 M. Mackenzie Dis. Throat & Nose II. 167 Ante⁓mortem peptic softening can be the cause of the injury. |
B. n.
1. (See quot.)
| 1842 Dunglison Med. Lex., Peptic, a substance which promotes digestion, or is digestive. |
2. pl. The digestive organs. humorous.
| 1842 Tennyson Will Waterproof x, Is there some magic in the place? Or do my peptics differ? 1883 W. Wallace in Academy 7 Apr. 235 To be taken, refrained from, or mixed, according to the constitution and condition of our peptics. |
3. pl. ‘The doctrine of digestion’ (Webster 1864).
Hence ˈpeptical a. = peptic a.; peptician (pɛpˈtɪʃən), a person who has good digestion; pepticity (pɛpˈtɪsɪtɪ), good peptic condition.
| 1831 Fraser's Mag. III. 12 His..political, practical, and peptical Theory of the Universe. 1831 Carlyle Misc. (1857) III. 1 The true Peptician was that Countryman who answered that ‘for his part, he had no system’. 1838 ― Let. 27 July in Froude Life in Lond. v. l. 141 A bit of brown bread, and peace and pepticity to eat it with. |