What is "gaster"

Gaster \Gast"er\, v. t. To gast. [Obs.]
--Beau. & Fl.

n. 1 the stomach 2 the part of the abdomen behind the petiole in hymenopterous insects

The gaster is the bulbous posterior portion of the metasoma found in hymenopterans of the suborder Apocrita ( bees, wasps and ants). This begins with abdominal segment III on most ants, but some make a postpetiole out of segment III, in which case the gaster begins with abdominal segment IV.

Gaster is a German surname. The Dictionary of American Family Names (2003) suggests that it may be a derivation from Gast "guest". There were 918 entries in the US white pages for this name as of 2013, the largest number (221 entries) in North Carolina. In Germany, there were 95 entries as of 2008.

Notable bearers of the name include:

• Jack Gaster (1907–2007), British communist solicitor and politician. son of Moses Gaster
• Jean-Paul Gaster (born 1971), American drummer
• Michael Gaster, British aerospace engineer
• Moses Gaster (1856–1939), Romanian-born British rabbi and scholar
• Theodor Gaster (1906–1992), British-born American Biblical scholar, son of Moses Gaster

Gaster may refer to:

• the Greek for " stomach"
  • in insects, see gaster (insect anatomy)
  • a trade name of famotidine, an inhibitor of stomach acid production
• a surname, Gaster (surname)
• a Swiss toponym, see Gaster (district)
• W. D. Gaster, a secret character in the video game Undertale
• Gaster, the main villain in PaRappa the Rapper anime