[1850–55; gastro- + -lith]This word is first recorded in the period 1850–55. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: boneyard, clear-cut, cloakroom, muggins, runoff-lith is a combining form meaning “stone” (acrolith; megalith; paleolith); it sometimes occurs in words as a variant form of -lite (batholith; laccolith)