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Colon
The part of the large intestine that runs from the cecum to the rectum as a long hollow tube that serves to remove water from digested food and let the remaining material, solid waste called stool, move through it to the rectum and leave the body through the anus. . The colon measures about 5 ft (1.5 m) in length. It goes up (the ascending colon) on the right side of the abdomen, across the abdomen (the transverse colon) beneath the stomach, and then down (the descending colon) on the left side of the abdomen and makes a sharp turn in the left lower portion (the sigmoid colon) to merge with the rectum. The colon is sometimes inaccurately called the large intestine or large bowel. It is only a part of the large intestine/bowel. The confusion may have arisen because the word "colon" came from "kolon" which to the ancient Greeks meant the large intestine.
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The division of the large intestine extending from the cecum to the rectum. [G. kolon]
- c. ascendens [TA] SYN: ascending c..
- ascending c. [TA] the portion of the c. between the ileocecal orifice and the right colic flexure. SYN: c. ascendens [TA].
- c. descendens [TA] SYN: descending c..
- descending c. [TA] the part of the c. extending from the left colic flexure to the pelvic brim. SYN: c. descendens [TA].
- giant c. SYN: megacolon.
- iliac c. that portion of the descending c. which occupies the left iliac fossa, between the crest of the left ilium and the pelvic brim.
- irritable c. tendency to colonic hyperperistalsis, sometimes with colicky pains and diarrhea.
- lead-pipe c. the scarred rigid c. of advanced ulcerative colitis. SYN: stove-pipe c..
- c. pelvinum SYN: sigmoid c..
- sigmoid c. [TA] the part of the c. describing an S-shaped curve between the pelvic brim and the third sacral segment; it is continuous with the rectum. SYN: c. sigmoideum [TA], c. pelvinum, flexura sigmoidea, sigmoid flexure.
- c. sigmoideum [TA] SYN: sigmoid c..
- spastic c. nonspecific term used to describe symptoms such as abdominal pain, flatulence, and alternating diarrhea with constipation thought to reflect increased muscular function of the c..
- stove-pipe c. SYN: lead-pipe c..
- transverse c. [TA] the part of the c. between the right and left colic flexures. It may extend somewhat transversely across the abdomen, but more often sags centrally, frequently to subumbilical levels. SYN: c. transversum [TA].
- c. transversum [TA] SYN: transverse c..

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co·lon 'kō-lən n, pl colons or co·la -lə the part of the large intestine that extends from the cecum to the rectum

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n.
the main part of the large intestine, which consists of four sections - the ascending, transverse, descending, and sigmoid colons. The colon has no digestive function but it absorbs large amounts of water and electrolytes from the undigested food passed on from the small intestine. At intervals strong peristaltic movements move the dehydrated contents (faeces) towards the rectum.
• colonic adj.

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co·lon (koґlən) [L., from Gr. kolon] [TA] the part of the large intestine extending from the cecum to the rectum; the term is sometimes used inaccurately as a synonym for the entire large intestine.

Colon, in a radiograph of the abdomen following a barium enema.


Medical dictionary. 2011.