Di"a*stase (?), n. [Gr. separation, fr. , to stand apart; through + , , to stand, set: cf. F. diastase. Cf. Diastasis.] Physiol. Chem.
A soluble, nitrogenous ferment, capable of converting starch and dextrin into sugar.
⇒ The name is more particularly applied to that ferment formed during the germination of grain, as in the malting of barley; but it is also occasionally used to designate the amylolytic ferment contained in animal fluids, as in the saliva.
© Webster 1913.