mastication

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mas·ti·cate

(măs′tĭ-kāt′)

v. mas·ti·cat·ed, mas·ti·cat·ing, mas·ti·cates

v.tr.

1. To chew (food).

2. To grind and knead (rubber, for example) into a pulp.

v.intr.

To chew food.

[Late Latin masticāre, masticāt-, to masticate, from Greek mastikhān, to grind the teeth.]

mas′ti·ca′tion n.

mas′ti·ca′tor n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

mas·ti·ca·tion

(măs′tĭ-kā′shən)

The chewing or grinding of food by the teeth.

The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun

mastication - biting and grinding food in your mouth so it becomes soft enough to swallow

chewing, manduction, chew

change of state - the act of changing something into something different in essential characteristics

chomping - the act of chewing noisily

gumming, mumbling - ineffectual chewing (as if without teeth)

rumination - (of ruminants) chewing (the cud); "ruminants have remarkable powers of rumination"

eating, feeding - the act of consuming food

Translations

μάσηση

masticación

masticazione

mastication

n → Kauen nt; (for young) → Vorkauen nt

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

mas·ti·ca·tion

n. masticación.

English-Spanish Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012

References in classic literature ?

Never had they witnessed such power of mastication, and such marvellous capacity of stomach, as in this native and uncultivated gastronome.

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At that moment the sound of jaws in the act of mastication, which proceeded from beneath the furnace, struck Charmolue's uneasy ear.

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Now all admire, in each high-flavored dish The capabilities of flesh—fowl—fish; In order due each guest assumes his station, Throbs high his breast with fond anticipation, And prelibates the joys of mastication. “—Heliogabaliad.

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'Glory of the East,' thou art in danger of mastication! Therefore never regard so piteously thy tail; it will undoubtedly be draggled in the mud, and for this there is no help.

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"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.

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After he had with great difficulty accomplished the mastication of a mouthful of the dried pease, he found it absolutely necessary to request his pious entertainer to furnish him with some liquor; who replied to his request by placing before him a large can of the purest water from the fountain.

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Thus his soldiers saw him, after what he boastingly called his supper -- that is to say, after the exercise of mastication reported by us at the commencement of this chapter -- like Napoleon on the eve of Austerlitz, seated asleep in his rush chair, half beneath the light of his lamp, half beneath the reflection of the moon, commencing its ascent in the heavens, which denoted that it was nearly half past nine in the evening.

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To perform successively (and successfully) the functions of mastication, humectation, and deglutition.

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In a pause of mastication and deglutition, Lady Tippins, contemplating Mortimer, recalls that it was at our dear Veneerings, and in the presence of a party who are surely all here, that he told them his story of the man from somewhere, which afterwards became so horribly interesting and vulgarly popular.

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This data suggests that the female participants consider aesthetics to be more affected than mastication or speech.

MEDICAL STUDENTS' AWARENESS OF ORTHODONTICS--A COMPARATIVE QUESTIONNAIRE SURVEY STUDY BETWEEN THE STUDENTS OF A MEDICAL COLLEGE ATTACHED WITH A DENTAL COLLEGE AND A STAND-ALONE MEDICAL COLLEGE

La mastication du qat se caracterise par des seances de crachotement ininterrompu et se fait toujours accompagnee d'eau fraiche et de la possibilite de fumer le narguile, une sorte de chicha.

Ramadhan au pays de la reine de Saba

The results of scientific research show that typical symptoms of TMD-pain in the area of the temporomandibular joints and/or muscles of mastication, limited mandibular range of motion, and acoustic symptoms are more common in patients who suffer from primary headache, such as migraine or tension headache, compared to the healthy population [6,7].