[ noun ] the terminal section of the alimentary canal; from the sigmoid flexure to the anus <noun.body>
Rectum \Rec"tum\ (-t?m), n. [NL. (sc. intestinum), fr. L. rectus straight. See {Right}.] (Anat.) The terminal part of the large intestine; -- so named because supposed by the old anatomists to be straight. See Illust. under {Digestive}.
Around the same time, Mapplethorpe did a self-portrait, posed partly naked in leather with the handle of a bullwhip in his rectum.
Harvard researchers found that men who ate a diet rich in fiber and low in animal fat had a sharply lower risk of developing polyps, the benign growths of colon and rectum tissue that can turn into cancer.
Cancer of the colon and rectum is second only to lung cancer as a cause of cancer death in the US.
A gene inherited by a third of all white Americans may be responsible for most cancer of the colon and rectum, and a search is on to pinpoint this inborn cancer trigger, researchers say.