Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Compressive; Contracting in succesive circles; of or pertaining to peristalsis; consisting in or exhibiting peristalsis.
  • Noting that clectrostatic induction which takes place between two or more conducting wires when inclosed within the same insulating case, as in an ocean cable: a use due to Sir W.Thomson.

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

  • adjective (Physiol.) Applied to the peculiar wormlike wave motion of the intestines and other similar structures, produced by the successive contraction of the muscular fibers of their walls, forcing their contents onwards.

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

  • adjective Of, or pertaining to peristalsis.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • As previously stated they are not eaten as they were created, but have been put through a prolonged milling process or other method of preparation which not only eliminates many elements of nourishment but also breaks up the food into the most minute particles, thus eliminating the rough, coarse and fibrous material in the food which ordinarily arouses what is known as the peristaltic activity of the bowels.

    Vitality Supreme Bernarr Macfadden 1911

  • In applying the ear to the flank, on either the right or left side, certain bubbling sounds may be heard that are known as peristaltic sounds, because they are produced by peristalsis, or wormlike contraction of the intestines.

    Special Report on Diseases of the Horse Charles B. Michener 1877

  • This occasions a worm like motion of the whole intestines, which is called their peristaltic motion.

    Popular Lectures on Zoonomia Or The Laws of Animal Life, in Health and Disease Thomas Garnett 1784

  • A contraction known as peristaltic-contraction pushes the chyme from the stomach and as the stomach relaxes it send squirts of chyme into the small intestines.

    CreationWiki - Recent changes [en] 2009

  • A contraction known as peristaltic-contraction pushes the chyme from the stomach and as the stomach relaxes it send squirts of chyme into the small intestines.

    CreationWiki - Recent changes [en] 2009

  • A contraction known as peristaltic-contraction pushes the chyme from the stomach and as the stomach relaxes it send squirts of chyme into the small intestines.

    CreationWiki - Recent changes [en] 2009

  • A contraction known as peristaltic-contraction pushes the chyme from the stomach and as the stomach relaxes it send squirts of chyme into the small intestines.

    CreationWiki - Recent changes [en] 2009

  • It would seem that unstriated muscle contracts slowly, and we find it especially among the viscera; in the intestine for instance, where it controls that "peristaltic" movement which pushes the food forward.

    Text Book of Biology, Part 1: Vertebrata 1906

  • Using a peristaltic movement to drive a balloon was previously unknown in the history of aviation.

    tingilinde: 2008

  • The AirJelly is the first indoor flying object to use such a peristaltic propulsion system.

    tingilinde: 2008

Comments

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  • ... the grubs circumscibed their little prison with peristaltic motion." Perdido Street Station p. 125

    December 3, 2006

  • “There are images, too, from movies and books of the horrors of trench warfare, the colossal waste of human life in one catastrophic, peristaltic battle after another.�?

    The New York Times, Echo of a Distant War, Editorial, November 10, 2008

    November 12, 2008

  • "The box of caterpillars swung as it was tugged through the darkness. Oblivious to their journey, the grubs circumscribed their little prison with peristaltic motion." From China Mieville's Perdido Street Station.

    October 1, 2011