: any of numerous dipteran flies of the family Culicidae that have a rather narrow abdomen, usually a long slender rigid proboscis, and narrow wings with a fringe of scales on the margin and usually on each side of the wing veins, that have in the male broad feathery antennae and mouthparts not fitted for piercing and in the female slender antennae ...
Obstruction of the bowel may due to: 1  A mechanical cause, which means something is in the way.  Ileus, a condition in which the bowel does not work correctly, but there is no structural problem causing it.
Other common types of mechanical obstruction of the small bowel include a hernia (where part of the bowel pushes through a weak area in the abdominal wall) or volvulus (where the bowel becomes twisted).