pepsin
(ˈpɛpsɪn)
Also formerly -ine.
[mod. (Schwann 1836, Poggendorff Annalen XXXVIII. 358), f. Gr. πέψ-ις digestion (f. stem πεπ- to cook, digest, etc.) + -in1.]
A ferment contained in the gastric juice, having the property of converting proteids into peptones in the presence of a weak acid; also used medicinally in cases of indigestion, etc.
| 1844 in Dunglison Med. Lex. 1845 G. E. Day tr. Simon's Anim. Chem. I. 22 Pepsin. This name..was given by Schwann, to a substance which constitutes the most essential portion of the gastric juice. 1873 C. H. Ralfe Phys. Chem. 129 Pepsin is a greyish-white powder, insoluble in water, alcohol, and ether, very soluble in dilute acids. |
| attrib. 1886 St. Stephen's Rev. 13 Mar. 12/1 As good as a pepsine pill before dinner. 1894 S. Fiske Holiday Stories (1900) 213 He forgot his dyspepsia and his pepsin tablets. |
Hence
ˈpepsinate v. trans., to mix or treat with pepsin;
pepsiˈniferous a., producing pepsin (
Cent Dict.);
pepˈsinogen: see
quot. 1893.
| 1882 Quain Med. Dict. 378/2 *Pepsinated pills of pounded raw beef. 1899 W. James in Talks to Teachers on Psychol. 206 With our future food..pepsinated or half-digested in advance. |
| 1878 Foster Phys. ii. i. §2. 220 We have a certain amount of..evidence of the existence of a matter of ferment, or *pepsinogen, comparable to the pancreatic zymogen. 1893 Syd. Soc. Lex., Pepsinogen, the zymogen which is continually being formed by the protoplasm of the gastric glands, and is converted, during secretion, into pepsin, and discharged from the gland-cells. |