a. rare–1. [ad. Gr. θρεπτικ-ός able to feed, f. τρέφειν to nourish.] Of or pertaining to nutrition.
1845. Maurice, Mor. & Met. Philos. (1850), I. vi. § 6. 199. We may define all the faculties which can exist in any living creature to be these: first, the faculty of receiving nourishment (θρεπτικη); secondly, [etc.]…. The threptic faculty is the lowest of these, and is present in all cases.
