Definitions

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

  • noun The upper middle region of the abdomen.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The upper and median part of the abdomen, especially of its surface, or that part lying over the stomach; the epigastric region, commonly called the pit of the stomach.
  • noun In entomology, a term used by some of the older entomologists for the lower side of the mesothorax and metathorax in the Coleoptera, Hemiptera, and Orthoptera.
  • noun Also, sometimes, epigastræum.

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

  • noun (Anat.) The upper part of the abdomen.

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

  • noun anatomy The upper middle region of the abdomen, between the umbilical and hypochondriac regions.

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

  • noun the region lying on or over the stomach (just below the sternum)

Etymologies

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

[New Latin, from Greek epigastrion, from neuter of epigastrios, over the belly : epi-, epi- + gastēr, gastr-, stomach.]

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Examples

  • It didn't do this time; for, as the assailant rushed in with his arms flying everywhere, like the vans of a windmill, he ran a prominent feature of his face against a fist which was travelling in the other direction, and immediately after struck the knuckles of the young man's other fist a severe blow with the part of his person known as the epigastrium to one branch of science and the bread-basket to another.

    Complete Project Gutenberg Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. Works Oliver Wendell Holmes 1851

  • It didn't do this time; for, as the assailant rushed in with his arms flying everywhere, like the vans of a windmill, he ran a prominent feature of his face against a fist which was travelling in the other direction, and immediately after struck the knuckles of the young man's other fist a severe blow with the part of his person known as the epigastrium to one branch of science and the bread-basket to another.

    The Professor at the Breakfast-Table Oliver Wendell Holmes 1851

  • No struggle there, on the part of the children, "to share the good man's knee;" but protruded eyes, round as spectacles, and almost as large, fixed alternately upon his flushed face and that absorbing epigastrium which is making their miserable flesh-pot to wane most wretchedly.

    Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, August 21, 1841 Various

  • Atypical symptoms include pain in the upper midline (epigastrium) or even chest.

    Dr. Jon LaPook: Body Language: Knowing Your Parts 2009

  • “We first had a feeling of siccity in the pharynx, then intolerable pains at the epigastrium, super purgation, coma.”

    Madame Bovary 2003

  • As to the mode of administration in sympathetic neuroses of the baths, the most direct manner in which to influence the diseased nerve, is by connecting one pole of a _galvanic_ battery (I consider the faradic current next to useless here) to the head electrode, the other to the surface board, the latter applied portion of the time to the epigastrium

    The Electric Bath George M. Schweig

  • Do not be like that Lord Russell in Spence's Anecdotes, who only went hunting for the sake of an appetite, and who, the moment he felt any sensation of vitality in the epigastrium, used to turn short round, exclaiming, "I have found it!" and ride home from the finest chase.

    The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 04, No. 23, September, 1859 Various

  • Mucro: a long, straight or curved process terminating in a point: the pro-sternal process in Elateridae: the terminal spine or process of an obtect pupa: "the median posterior point of the epigastrium when differentiated by elevation."

    Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology John. B. Smith

  • The one pole should be connected with the head-electrode, the other, by means of the surface board, applied alternately, to the epigastrium, chiefly, and to the hypogastric region.

    The Electric Bath George M. Schweig

  • The best method of employing the bath is as follows: For the first ten minutes a constant current of medium intensity should be passed, one pole communicating with the head-electrode, the other connected with the surface board, applied for five minutes to the epigastrium, five minutes to the sacral region.

    The Electric Bath George M. Schweig

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