Definition of "sweetbread" [sweet•bread]

• The thymus gland or pancreas of a young animal, especially a calf or lamb, used for food. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "This is the gland which in the calf is known as the sweetbread and is a delicious and valued article of food."
• "The sweetbread is the pancreas; now a deficient pancreatic action is supposed to play a great part in consumption and other wasting diseases."
• ""sweetbread" -- a gland nearly as large as the hand, lying behind the stomach."