ˈglüˌkōs also -ōz noun
( -s )
Etymology: French, modification of Greek gleukos must, sweet wine; akin to Greek glykys sweet — more at dulcet
1. : an aldose sugar HOCH 2 (CHOH) 4 CHO known in dextrorotatory, levorotatory, and racemic forms ; especially : the sweet colorless soluble dextrorotatory d -form that is readily obtained crystalline in both the alpha and beta modifications, that occurs especially in plant saps and fruits, normally in blood, pathologically in the urine (as in diabetes mellitus), and combined in many disaccharides, trisaccharides, polysaccharides, and glucosides in most plant and animal tissues, and that is a chief source of protoplasmic energy and in its simple state is the usual form in which carbohydrate is assimilated into the animal body — see dextrose , invert sugar , sucrose ; compare glyceraldehyde , structural formula
2. : starch syrup — used chiefly commercially