Definitions

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

  • noun The digestive tract; the intestines.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In zoology and anatomy, the intestine, alimentary canal, or digestive space which is primitively derived from the endoderm, including its annexes and appendages, but excluding any digestive space which is primitively derived from an ingrowth of ectoderm (stomodæum or proctodæum).

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

  • noun (Anat.) The whole alimentary, or enteric, canal.

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

  • noun The gut, the whole intestine (alimentary) canal

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

  • noun the alimentary canal (especially of an embryo or a coelenterate)

Etymologies

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

[Greek; see en in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Neo-Latin, from Ancient Greek ἔντερον (enteron, "intestine")

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Examples

  • Some species of a group of bacteria called enterobacteriaceae, after the Greek word enteron, which means “intestine,” are capable of making us a little sick or very sick depending on the circumstances.

    HOME COMFORTS CHERYL MENDELSON 2005

  • Some species of a group of bacteria called enterobacteriaceae, after the Greek word enteron, which means “intestine,” are capable of making us a little sick or very sick depending on the circumstances.

    HOME COMFORTS CHERYL MENDELSON 2005

  • Some species of a group of bacteria called enterobacteriaceae, after the Greek word enteron, which means “intestine,” are capable of making us a little sick or very sick depending on the circumstances.

    HOME COMFORTS CHERYL MENDELSON 2005

  • Some species of a group of bacteria called enterobacteriaceae, after the Greek word enteron, which means “intestine,” are capable of making us a little sick or very sick depending on the circumstances.

    HOME COMFORTS CHERYL MENDELSON 2005

  • However, when it was pointed out to the directors that the common medical meaning of enteron was “alimentary canal, intestines, guts,” company officials hastily demanded that a new name be found evocative of energy and the future but with no suggestion of upset stomach or bowel movement.

    The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time William Safire 2004

  • However, when it was pointed out to the directors that the common medical meaning of enteron was “alimentary canal, intestines, guts,” company officials hastily demanded that a new name be found evocative of energy and the future but with no suggestion of upset stomach or bowel movement.

    The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time William Safire 2004

  • As in the preceding reconstruction no attempt is made to show the gill clefts, and only the dorso-ventral profile of the enteron is shown.

    Development of the Digestive Canal of the American Alligator C. M. [Illustrator] Reese

  • It lies, of course, on both sides of the enteron proper, and overlaps, anteriorly, as has been said, the posterior end of the lung.

    Development of the Digestive Canal of the American Alligator C. M. [Illustrator] Reese

  • The layers of its wall are much more fully differentiated than in the more anterior regions of the enteron.

    Development of the Digestive Canal of the American Alligator C. M. [Illustrator] Reese

  • Enteric: relating to the digestive canal or enteron.

    Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology John. B. Smith

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