digestive

digestive or digestant (dɪˈdʒɛstɪv, daɪ-, daɪˈdʒɛstənt)

—*adj*
1.	relating to, aiding, or subjecting to digestion: a digestive enzyme

—n
2.	a less common word for digestant
3.	short for digestive biscuit

digestant or digestant

—*adj*

—n

di'gestively or digestant

—*adv*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

digestive

late 14c. (n.); 1530s (adj.), from Fr. digestif (14c.), from L. digestivus, from digest-, pp. stem of digerere (see digest (n.)).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

digestive di·ges·tive (dī-jěs'tĭv, dĭ-)
adj.
Of or relating to digestion. n.
A digestant.

Example sentences

For example, digestive enzymes trap starch molecules in their folds, placing

them near chemicals that break them down into sugar.

The saliva flowed in their mouths as their long-dormant stomachs gurgled with

digestive juices.

The immature parasites drill through the wall of a snail's gut and settle in

the digestive gland.

Our digestive systems have evolved significantly around the practice of eating

cooked, easily digestible foods.

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Matching Quote

"Kitchens were different then, too—not only what came out of them, but their smells and sounds. A hot pie cooling smells different from a frozen pie thawing. Oilcloth and linoleum and apples in an open bowl and ruffled rubber aprons make a different aromatic mix from Formica and ceramic tile and mangoes in an acrylic fruit ripener and plastic-coated aprons printed with "Who invited all these tacky people?" And the kitchen sounds. I am not sure that today's kitchen is noisier. But the noises are different. Today you get the song of the food processor and the blender, the intermittent hum of the reefer and the freezer, the buzz-slosh-and-grunt of the dishwasher, the violently audible digestive processes of the waste disposal in the sink. Then it was the whir and clatter of the hand-powered eggbeater, the thunk-thunk-thunk of somebody mashing potatoes, or, in green-pea season, the crisp pop of pea pod and the rattle-rattle-rattle of peas into the pan."

-Peg Bracken

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