dyspeptic

comparative more dyspeptic · superlative most dyspeptic

1. not comparablemedicineOf, relating to, or having dyspepsia or indigestion.

   If she was hot or cold or dyspeptic or at a loss for a word, she went to the book, and it told her which button to press.

   1909, E.M. Forster, “I”, in The Machine Stops

   1 more example

   ...but Lady Anne could not be deceived—in five years' time he would become dyspeptic, be surrounded by physicians, consigned to all the Badens in Germany, and think much more of a renovating draught than a beautiful young wife.

   1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “(please specify the page)”, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, pages 272–273

2. comparablefigurativelyIrritable or morose.

   Sir Maurice made a rough, dyspeptic sound, as if chewing a mint.

   2004, Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty […], London: Picador, →ISBN

   1 more example

   He was a sallow, dyspeptic man, with a premature shock of grey hair, attached to the stage as an occupation but not a vocation. His only passion was gambling on the race-course, which was attended with perpetual bad luck, though that appeared to act as a stimulus rather than to dampen his fervour.

   1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 23

   Synonyms: bad-tempered, bilious, irritable, morose

plural dyspeptics

1. A dyspeptic person.

   There is, for example, the hamburg-steak, of which the alliaceousness can seduce all but saints and the worst of dyspeptics.

   1961, Xavier Herbert, Soldiers' Women, Netley, SA: Fontana Books, published 1978, page 175

   1 more example

   Medical management of peptic ulcers is employed along with psychotherapy to greater advantage than the multitude of operations employed twenty years ago for the unfortunate dyspeptic.

   1951 February, Forrest H. Howard, “The Physiologic Position for Delivery”, in Northwest Medicine, volume 50, number 2, Portland, Ore.: Northwest Medical Publishing Association, page 98