Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Mastication

Masˊti-ca′tion

,
Noun.
[L.
masticatio
: cf. F.
mastication
.]
The act or operation of masticating; chewing, as of food.
Mastication
is a necessary preparation of solid aliment, without which there can be no good digestion.
Arbuthnot.

Webster 1828 Edition


Mastication

MASTICA'TION

,
Noun.
The act or operation of chewing solid food, breaking it into small pieces, and mixing it with saliva; thus preparing it for deglutition, and more easy digestion in the stomach.
Mastication is a necessary preparation of solid aliment, without which there can be no good digestion.

Definition 2024


mastication

mastication

English

Noun

mastication (plural mastications)

  1. (physiology) The process of chewing.
    • 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Land That Time Forgot Chapter V
      "It is more blasphemous than that thing which is swiping our meat," I replied, for whatever the thing was, it had leaped upon our deer and was devouring it in great mouthfuls which it swallowed without mastication. The creature appeared to be a great lizard at least ten feet high, with a huge, powerful tail as long as its torso, mighty hind legs and short forelegs.
  2. The process of crushing as though chewed.

Translations