n. [ NL., fr. Gr. &unr_;; pa^s, pa^n, all + kre`as flesh, meat: cf. F. pancréas. ] (Anat.) The sweetbread, a gland connected with the intestine of nearly all vertebrates. It is usually elongated and light-colored, and its secretion, called the pancreatic juice, is discharged, often together with the bile, into the upper part of the intestines, and is a powerful aid in digestion. See Illust. of Digestive apparatus. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. pancréatique. ] (Anat.) Of or pertaining to the pancreas; as, the pancreatic secretion, digestion, ferments. [ 1913 Webster ]

Pancreatic juice (Physiol.), a colorless alkaline fluid secreted intermittently by the pancreatic gland. It is one of the most important of the digestive fluids, containing at least three distinct enzymes, trypsin, steapsin (lipase) and an amylase, by which it acts upon all three classes of food stuffs. See Pancreas. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

n. [ See pancreas. ] (Physiol. Chem.) One of the digestive enzymes of the pancreatic juice. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ By some the term pancreatin is restricted to the amylolytic ferment of the pancreatic juice (amylase), by others it is applied to trypsin, and by still others to steapsin (the lipase of pancreatic juice). [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

2. A preparation of pancreatic juice, usually obtained from the ox or hog, containing the three main digestive enzymes trypsin, amylase, and lipase, and used in medicine as an aid to digestion. [ 1913 Webster + PJC ]