mastication
(mæstɪˈkeɪʃən)
Also 7 mastucation.
[ad. late L. masticātiōn-em, n. of action f. masticā-re to masticate. Cf. F. mastication.]
1. The action of masticating or chewing.
| 1565 Cooper Thesaurus, Confectio escarum..Mastication or chewing of the meate. 1615 Crooke Body of Man 134 All Aliments..after mastication or chewing..are swallowed. 1658 Sir T. Browne Gard. Cyrus iii. Hydriot. etc. 56 After a fuller mastication, and salivous mixture. 1854 Emerson Lett. & Soc. Aims, Comic Wks. (Bohn) III. 210 To put something for mastication between the upper and lower mandibles. 1880 Günther Fishes 329 Dentition..adapted for the prehension and mastication of crustaceous..animals. |
| fig. a 1631 Donne Serm. lxiii. (1640) 637 It is writ in gall and wormwood..; but if we can bring it..to that mastication, that rumination, which is [etc.]. |
† b. = manducation.
Obs.| 1601 Bp. W. Barlow Defence 128 They, which..haue turned..the supper into a spectacle..feeding the peoples eyes with the priestes eleuation, and sole mastucation. |
2. The action or process of pulping (gutta-percha).
| 1881 Times 18 Apr. 4/6 The gutta percha is not masticated in any way, Mr. T. holding that mastication utterly destroys the material. 1885 C. G. W. Lock Workshop Receipts Ser. iv. 1/2 At some works this process of ‘mastication’ [in waterproofing] is omitted. |