Crossword clues for mastication
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Mastication \Mas`ti*ca"tion\, n. [L. masticatio: cf. F. mastication.] The act or operation of masticating; chewing, as of food.
Mastication is a necessary preparation of solid
aliment, without which there can be no good digestion.
--Arbuthnot.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
early 15c., from Old French masticacion and directly from Latin masticationem (nominative masticatio), noun of action from masticare "to chew" (source of Old French maschier, French mâcher), probably from a Greek source related to mastikhan "to gnash the teeth," from PIE *mendh- "to chew" (see mandible).
Wiktionary
n. 1 (context physiology English) The process of chew. 2 The process of crushing as though chewed.
WordNet
n. biting and grinding food in your mouth so it becomes soft enough to swallow [syn: chew, chewing, manduction]
Wikipedia
Mastication or chewing is the process by which food is crushed and ground by teeth. It is the first step of digestion, and it increases the surface area of foods to allow more efficient break down by enzymes. During the mastication process, the food is positioned by the cheek and tongue between the teeth for grinding. The muscles of mastication move the jaws to bring the teeth into intermittent contact, repeatedly occluding and opening. As chewing continues, the food is made softer and warmer, and the enzymes in saliva begin to break down carbohydrates in the food. After chewing, the food (now called a bolus) is swallowed. It enters the esophagus and via peristalsis continues on to the stomach, where the next step of digestion occurs.
Premastication is sometimes performed by human parents for infants who are unable to do so for themselves. The food is masticated in the mouth of the parent into a bolus and then transferred to the infant for consumption. (Some other animals also premasticate.)
Cattle and some other animals, called ruminants, chew food more than once to extract more nutrients. After the first round of chewing, this food is called cud.
Usage examples of "mastication".
The symptoms are numerous and may arise from simple causes such as too hurried meals and insufficient mastication of the food.
The most delicate and dangerous act he had performed to date had been the daily mastication of Mrs.
But that Aline--his Aline--should have to deny herself the exercise of that mastication of rich meats which, together with the gift of speech, raises man above the beasts of the field---- That was what tortured George.
Take a mouth intended for mastication and salivation, pass air from the respiratory system through it, vibrate that air by interposing the cords intended by nature to seal off the lungs when under stress, and you had the basis of the human speech mechanism.
Instead of true teeth, the entire inner mouth was composed of a sort of flexible horny growth which probably served for mastication when and if necessary.
Mingling their mumblings with his own mastications, thousands on thousands of sharks, swarming round the dead leviathan, smackingly feasted on its fatness.