The Collaborative International Dictionary
Peristaltic \Per`i*stal"tic\, a. [Gr. ? clasping and compressing, fr. ? to surround, wrap up; ? round + ? to place, arrange: cf. F. p['e]ristaltique.] (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; as, peristaltic movement. -- Per`i*stal"tic*al*ly, adv.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Wiktionary
a. Of, or pertaining to peristalsis. alt. Of, or pertaining to peristalsis.
Wikipedia
Usage examples of "peristaltic".
The air was full of the hiss and suck of oxygen, the peristaltic pulse of IV units squeezing god knows what into her veins, the hum of a dozen machines.
The peristaltic pulse of the thick stuff always made Cari think of quicksand, of sand-colored octopi creeping along an ocean floor, of week-old oatmeal.
Beneath their feet was a porous matrix that seemed at least half-alive, that absorbed anything organic and dead and moved rubbish to collector outlets with a disturbing peristaltic motion.
Dengar could easily see the motion, like a peristaltic wave traveling across the scales and crusted decay patches.
Kamahl struggled to shift his axe so that the blade would rub against the peristaltic muscles.
The peristaltic field seized him at once, and propelled him forward while he lay back luxuriously, watching his surroundings.
As they stepped into the tunnel, they felt the familiar tug of the peristaltic field and in a moment were being swept effortlessly into the depths.
With peristaltic spasms, as of slimy, repulsive intestines, it came up to the glass, pressed against it opposite my face, and made several feeble crawling motions before becoming still.
Looked down upon, their motion seems peristaltic and vermicular, like that of three caterpillars.
Its richness and nonlinear nature more than compensated for the relative sluggishness of those peristaltic ripples of meaning and allusion that took so many minutes to sweep across the packed miles.
DS9 that had always reminded him of med-school diagrams of peristaltic motion.
Even from this distance and with so little light he could see that the enemy had sloughed off its ragged coat and moved in the air like a serpentine engine, its immense form in constant, peristaltic motion.
It was the color of the filth on the lamp, but wet, its too-naked anatomy full of peristaltic motions.
He could feel a gentle rippling against his wrists as peristaltic muscles brought the darts forward out of their magazine sacs into launch tubules.
He was the driver and his stomach was the engine, pushing the vision forward with wave after wave of peristaltic agony.