pancreas
a gland, situated near the stomach, that secretes a digestive fluid into the intestine through one or more ducts and also secretes the hormone insulin.
Origin of pancreas
1Other words from pancreas
- pan·cre·at·ic [pan-kree-at-ik, pang-], /ˌpæn kriˈæt ɪk, ˌpæŋ-/, adjective
- Compare islet of Langerhans, pancreatic juice.
Words Nearby pancreas
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use pancreas in a sentence
The word “hormone” entered the medical lexicon in 1905 to describe secretions of the pancreas and was soon used for other chemical messengers produced by any of the body’s glands.
How medicine sought to control women’s bodies while ignoring their symptoms | Susan Okie | July 2, 2021 | Washington PostIn this autoimmune disease, the immune system attacks insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, leaving the body unable to make the insulin needed to control blood sugar levels.
A repurposed TB vaccine shows early promise against diseases like diabetes and MS | Amanda B. Keener | June 2, 2021 | Science NewsWe wouldn’t think twice about trying to treat that condition if it were treating your pancreas as with diabetes, or your joints as with arthritis.
She did take some programming courses in college, but most of the skills she deployed in making her artificial pancreas were self-taught.
It may strike you as strange that the artificial pancreas didn’t already exist.
The shot damaged his liver, lungs, pancreas and spleen and has left him paralyzed from the waist down.
The internal injuries cost him his spleen and part of his pancreas, but he could skate without those.
Eventually Jobs did have surgery, but by then it was too late—the cancer had spread beyond his pancreas.
Steve Jobs was right to be optimistic when, in 2004, he announced that he had cancer in his pancreas.
The surgery removes the right side of the pancreas, the gallbladder, and parts of the stomach, bile duct, and small intestine.
In the pancreas after putrefaction, and in the fces of typhus patients, no skatol was found.
The pancreas, which is the stomach sweetbread, is used less often than the others.
Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 3 | Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and SciencesThe thymus and thyroid glands and the pancreas are included under the term sweetbreads.
Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 3 | Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and SciencesThe pancreas does not appear in this drawing, being concealed behind the stomach.
A Treatise on Domestic Economy | Catherine Esther BeecherPan′creatin, the pancreatic juice; Pancreatīt′is, inflammation of the pancreas.
British Dictionary definitions for pancreas
/ (ˈpæŋkrɪəs) /
a large elongated glandular organ, situated behind the stomach, that secretes insulin and pancreatic juice
Origin of pancreas
1Derived forms of pancreas
- pancreatic (ˌpæŋkrɪˈætɪk), adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for pancreas
[ păng′krē-əs ]
A long, irregularly shaped gland in vertebrate animals that is located behind the stomach and is part of the digestive system. It secretes hormones (insulin, glucagon, and somatostatin) into the bloodstream and digestive enzymes into the small intestine or gut. The pancreas also secretes sodium bicarbonate, which protects the lining of the intestine by neutralizing acids from the stomach.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Cultural definitions for pancreas
[ (pang-kree-uhs, pan-kree-uhs) ]
A gland behind the stomach that functions in both the endocrine system and the digestive system. Its endocrine function involves the secretion into the bloodstream of insulin, which regulates the level of sugars in the blood. As part of the digestive system, the pancreas secretes into the small intestine a fluid containing enzymes that is used in the digestion of all foods.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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