Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The passage of black, tarry stools composed largely of blood that has been acted on by gastric juices, indicative of bleeding in the upper digestive tract.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Med.) See melæna.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A passage of dark, tarry stools containing blood, as the result of upper gastrointestinal bleeding.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun abnormally dark tarry feces containing blood (usually from gastrointestinal bleeding)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[New Latin melēna, from Greek melaina, feminine of melās, black.]

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