U'ric, a.

a. [Fr. urique, from Gr. οὖρον, urine.] (Chem.) Of, pertaining to, or obtained from, urine;—said of an acid which occurs in small quantities in the healthy urine of man and quadrupeds, and in much larger quantity in the urine of birds, of which it forms the white part as urate of ammonia. It also constitutes the chief part of the excrement of serpents, as the boa constrictor.

In diseased urine, uric acid is often deposited on cooling, and generally of a reddish color. It also constitutes the most frequent form of gravel and calculus when deposited in the bladder. Acid urate of soda is found in the chalk stones of gouty patients. Uric acid is also called lithic acid. Gregory.