Part 438

Gas"sing (?), n. 1. (Manuf.) The process of passing cotton goods between two rollers and exposing them to numerous minute jets of gas to burn off the small fibers; any similar process of singeing.

2. Boasting; insincere or empty talk. [Slang]

Gas"sy (?), a. Full of gas; like gas. Hence: [Colloq.] Inflated; full of boastful or insincere talk.

Gast (?), v. t. [OE. gasten, g&?;sten to frighten, akin to Goth. usgaisjan. See Aghast, Ghastly, and cf. Gaze.] To make aghast; to frighten; to terrify. See Aghast. [Obs.] Chaucer. Shak.

Gast"er (?), v. t. To gast. [Obs.] Beau. & Fl.

||Gas`te*ro*my*ce"tes (?), n. pl. [NL., from Gr. &?; stomach + &?; a ||mushroom.] (Bot.) An order of fungi, in which the spores are borne ||inside a sac called the peridium, as in the puffballs.

Gas"ter*o*pod (?), n. (Zoˆl.) Same as Gastropod.

||Gas`te*rop`o*da (?), n. pl. (Zoˆl.) Same as Gastropoda.

Gas`ter*op"o*dous (?), a. (Zoˆl.) Same as Gastropodous.

Gast"ful, Gast"ly (&?;), a. [Obs.] See Ghastful, Ghastly.

Gas"tight` (?), a. So tightly fitted as to preclude the escape of gas; impervious to gas.

Gast"ness (?), n. See Ghastness. [Obs.]

||Gas*tor"nis (?), n. [NL., from Gaston M. Plante, the discover + Gr. ||&?; bird.] (Paleon.) A genus of large eocene birds from the Paris ||basin.

||Gas*trÊ"a (?), n. [NL., from Gr. &?;, &?;, the stomach.] (Biol.) A ||primeval larval form; a double-walled sac from which, according to ||the hypothesis of Haeckel, man and all other animals, that in the ||first stages of their individual evolution pass through a two-layered ||structural stage, or gastrula form, must have descended. This idea ||constitutes the GastrÊa theory of Haeckel. See Gastrula.

||Gas*tral"gi*a (?), n. [NL., fr. Gr. &?;, &?;, stomach + &?; pain.] ||(Med.) Pain in the stomach or epigastrium, as in gastric disorders.

Gas"tric (?), a. [Gr. &?;, &?;, stomach: cf. F. gastrique.] Of, pertaining to, or situated near, the stomach; as, the gastric artery.

Gastric digestion (Physiol.), the conversion of the albuminous portion of food in the stomach into soluble and diffusible products by the solvent action of gastric juice. -- Gastric fever (Med.), a fever attended with prominent gastric symptoms; -- a name applied to certain forms of typhoid fever; also, to catarrhal inflammation of the stomach attended with fever. -- Gastric juice (Physiol.), a thin, watery fluid, with an acid reaction, secreted by a peculiar set of glands contained in the mucous membrane of the stomach. It consists mainly of dilute hydrochloric acid and the ferment pepsin. It is the most important digestive fluid in the body, but acts only on proteid foods. -- Gastric remittent fever (Med.), a form of remittent fever with pronounced stomach symptoms.

Gas*tril"o*quist (?), n. [Gr. gasth`r, gastro`s, stomach + L. loqui to speak.] One who appears to speak from his stomach; a ventriloquist.

Gas*tril"o*quous (?), a. Ventriloquous. [R.]

Gas*tril"o*quy (?), n. A voice or utterance which appears to proceed from the stomach; ventriloquy.

||Gas*tri"tis (?), n. [NL., from. Gr. &?;, &?;, stomach + -itis.] ||(Med.) Inflammation of the stomach, esp. of its mucuos membrane.

Gas"tro- (?). A combining form from the Gr. &?;, &?;, the stomach, or belly; as in gastrocolic, gastrocele, gastrotomy.

Gas`troc*ne"mi*us (?), n. [NL., from Gr. &?; the calf of the leg.] (Anat.) The muscle which makes the greater part of the calf of the leg.

Gas`tro*col"ic (?), a. [Gastro- + colic.] (Anat.) Pertaining to both the stomach and the colon; as, the gastrocolic, or great, omentum.

Gas`tro*disc (?), n. [Gastro- + disc.] (Biol.) That part of blastoderm where the hypoblast appears like a small disk on the inner face of the epibladst.

Gas`tro*du"o*de"nal (?), a. [Gastro- + -duodenal.] (Anat.) Pertaining to the stomach and duodenum; as, the gastroduodenal artery.

Gas`tro*du`o*de*ni"tis (?), n. [NL. See Gastroduodenal, and -itis.] (Med.) Inflammation of the stomach and duodenum. It is one of the most frequent causes of jaundice.

Gas`tro*el`y*trot"o*my (?), n. [Gastro- + Gr &?; sheath + &?; a cutting] (Surg.) The operation of cutting into the upper part of the vagina, through the abdomen (without opening the peritoneum), for the purpose of removing a fetus. It is a substitute for the CÊsarean operation, and less dangerous.