Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


caecum

cae′cum

,
Noun.
;
pl.
Cæcums
, L.
Cæca
(#)
.
[L.
caecus
blind, invisible, concealed.]
(Anat.)
(a)
A cavity open at one end, as the blind end of a canal or duct.
(b)
The blind part of the large intestine beyond the entrance of the small intestine; – called also the
blind gut
.
[Also spelled
cecum
.]
☞ The cæcum is comparatively small in man, and ends in a slender portion, the vermiform appendix; but in herbivorous mammals it is often as large as the rest of the large intestine. In fishes there are often numerous intestinal cæca.