Glu"ten (?), n. [L., glue: cf. F. gluten. See Glue.] Chem.
The viscid, tenacious substance which gives adhesiveness to dough.
⇒ Gluten is a complex and variable mixture of glutin or gliadin, vegetable fibrin, vegetable casein, oily material, etc., and ia a very nutritious element of food. It may be separated from the flour of grain by subjecting this to a current of water, the starch and other soluble matters being thus washed out.
Gluten bread, bread containing a large proportion of gluten; -- used in cases of diabetes. -- Gluten casein Chem., a vegetable proteid found in the seeds of grasses, and extracted as a dark, amorphous, earthy mass. -- Gluten fibrin Chem., a vegetable proteid found in the cereal grains, and extracted as an amorphous, brownish yellow substance.
© Webster 1913.