ColOn (redirected from left colon)

colon, in anatomy

colon, in anatomy: see intestine.

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colon, in punctuation

colon, in writing: see punctuation.

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colon

Segment that makes up most of the large intestine. Though the two terms are often used interchangeably, the colon technically excludes the cecum (a pouch at the beginning of the large intestine), rectum, and anal canal. It runs up the right side of the abdomen (ascending colon), across it (transverse colon), and down the left side (descending colon); its last section (sigmoid colon) joins the rectum. It has no digestive function but lubricates waste products, absorbs remaining fluids and salts, and stores waste products until excretion. Problems involving the colon include ulcerative colitis, constipation and diarrhea, gas discomfort, megacolon (enlarged colon), and cancer.

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colon

In programming, the colon (:) is used to separate parts of an address. For example, the first part of 1AAA:1FFF might be a segment address and the second part the actual offset within the segment.

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colon¹

(in classical prosody) a part of a rhythmic period with two to six feet and one principal accent or ictus

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colon²

the part of the large intestine between the caecum and the rectum

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colon [′kō·lən]

(anatomy)

The portion of the human intestine extending from the cecum to the rectum; it is divided into four sections: ascending, transverse, descending, and sigmoid. Also known as large intestine.

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Colon

The portion of the intestine that runs from the cecum to the rectum; in some mammals, it may be separated from the small intestine by an ileocecal valve. It is also known as the large intestine. The colon is usually divided into ascending, transverse, and descending portions. In the human a fourth section, the sigmoid, is found. The colon is longer in herbivores and shorter in carnivores, and is about 4 to 6 ft (1.2 to 1.8 m) long in humans. No digestive enzymes are secreted in the colon. Much digestion (for example, all breakdown of cellulose) occurs by bacteria, of which Escherichia coli is the most common. Most of the fluid added to the food during digestion is reabsorbed into the body in the colon. All digestive action, water absorption, and so on, is completed before the food materials pass out of the colon into the rectum. See Digestive system

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(character)

colon - ":" ASCII character 58. Common names: ITU-T: colon. Rare: dots; INTERCAL: two-spot.

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Colon 

an intonational unit in speech; the utterance between two pauses. It usually coincides with the syntagma, a syntactically linked group of words.

In Russian literary prose, the average length of a colon is two to four fully stressed words; in scientific writing and journalism it is longer. The following is an example of division of speech into cola:. Ia ekhal na perekladnykh iz Tiflisa./Vsia poklazha moei telezhki/sostoiala iz odnogo nebol’shogo chemodana./kotoryi do poloviny/byl nabitputevymi zapiskami o Gruzii/Borshaia chast’ iz nikh, /k schastiiu dlia vas, poteriana,/a chemodan, s ostal’nymi veshchami,/k schastiiu dlia menia, ostalsia tsel.

(I was traveling by post chaise from Tiflis./The entire load on my handcart/consisted of one small suitcase,/which was half/full of notes on Georgia./Most of them,/fortunately for you, were lost/and the suitcase with the rest of the things,/fortunately for me, remained intact. M. Iu. Lermontov,Bêla.)