dyspeptic, a. (n.)
(dɪˈspɛptɪk)
[f. Gr. δύσπεπτος difficult of digestion, f. δυσ- (dys-) + πεπτός cooked, digested: after Gr. πεπτικός able to digest.]
† 1. Difficult of digestion; causing dyspepsia; indigestible. Obs. rare.
| 1694 Westmacott Script. Herb., It is..more solid, course, and dispeptic than that of wheat. |
2. Of or belonging to dyspepsia.
| 1809 Med. Jrnl. XXI. 269 This dyspeptic state of the stomach. 1875 H. C. Wood Therap. (1879) 188 Decided dyspeptic symptoms. |
b. fig. Showing depression of spirits like that of a person suffering from dyspepsia; morbidly despondent or gloomy.
| 1894 Forum (U.S.) Aug. 732 There is no throwing up of the hands in despair—no dyspeptic politics, to put it briefly. |
3. Subject to or suffering from dyspepsia.
| 1822–34 Good Study Med. (ed. 4) I. 443 Common to the hysteric, dyspeptic, and choleric. 1844 Dickens Mart. Chuz. (C.D. ed.) 171 Dyspeptic individuals bolted their food in wedges. 1884 Pall Mall G. 16 Oct. 1 Carlyle..was a kind of dyspeptic Mount Sinai. |
B. n. A person subject to or suffering from dyspepsia.
| 1822–34 Good Study Med. (ed. 4) I. 157 The sedentary and studious dyspeptic. 1866 Mrs. Stowe Lit. Foxes 34 It is almost impossible for a confirmed dyspeptic to act like a good Christian; but a good Christian ought not to become a confirmed dyspeptic. 1893 G. Allen Scallywag II. 98 She had the usual surprising appetite of the sallow American dyspeptic. |