| assault | 1. A violent onset or attack with physical means, as blows, weapons, etc.; an onslaught; the rush or charge of an attacking force; onset; as, to make assault upon a man, a house, or a town. "The Spanish general prepared to renew the assault." (Prescott) "Unshaken bears the assault Of their most dreaded foe, the strong southwest." (Wordsworth) 2. A violent onset or attack with moral weapons, as words, arguments, appeals, and the like; as, to make an assault on the prerogatives of a prince, or on the constitution of a government. 3. An apparently violent attempt, or willful offer with force or violence, to do hurt to another; an attempt or offer to beat another, accompanied by a degree of violence, but without touching his person, as by lifting the fist, or a cane, in a threatening manner, or by striking at him, and missing him. If the blow aimed takes effect, it is a battery. "Practically, however, the word assault is used to include the battery." (Mozley & W) Synonym: Attack, invasion, incursion, descent, onset, onslaught, charge, storm. Origin: OE. Asaut, assaut, OF. Assaut, asalt, F. Assaut, LL. Assaltus; L. Ad + saltus a leaping, a springing, salire to leap. See Assail. 1. To make an assault upon, as by a sudden rush of armed men; to attack with unlawful or insulting physical violence or menaces. "Insnared, assaulted, overcome, led bound." (Milton) 2. To attack with moral means, or with a view of producing moral effects; to attack by words, arguments, or unfriendly measures; to assail; as, to assault a reputation or an administration. "Before the gates, the cries of babes newborn, . . . Assault his ears." (Dryden) In the latter sense, assail is more common. Synonym: To attack, assail, invade, encounter, storm, charge. See Attack. Origin: From Assault,: cf. OF. Assaulter, LL. Assaltare. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| secondary drowning | Pulmonary oedema and resulting asphyxia, resulting from hypoxia and increased permeability of pulmonary capillaries occurring in a patient who has been immersed in and aspirated some water. (05 Mar 2000) |
| near drowning | Any almost drowning. All cases should be evaluated by a physician. Complications include aspiration pneumonia and adult respiratory distress syndrome. (27 Sep 1997) |
| drowning | Death within 24 hours of immersion in liquid, either due to anoxia or cardiac arrest caused by sudden extreme lowering of temperature (immersion syndrome). See: near drowning. (05 Mar 2000) |
| dry drowning | Drowning in an individual whose laryngeal reflexes are brisk, resulting in spasm that prevents inhalation of water; may be associated with the highest recovery rate. (05 Mar 2000) |
| abstracting and indexing | Shortening or summarizing of documents; assigning of descriptors for referencing documents. (12 Dec 1998) |
| academies and institutes | Organizations representing specialised fields which are accepted as authoritative; may be non-governmental, university or an independent research organization, e.g., national academy of sciences, brookings institution, etc. (12 Dec 1998) |
| accounts payable and receivable | Short-term debt obligations and assets occurring in the regular course of operational transactions. (12 Dec 1998) |
| aged, 80 and over | A person 80 years of age and older. (12 Dec 1998) |
| algae and fungi | Algae represent a group of spore-propagating plants, unicellular or undifferentiated into root, stem, and leaf. They include seaweed and many unicellular fresh water plants, most of which contain chlorophyll. They account for about 90% of the earth's photosynthetic activity. Fungi are eukaryotic, heterotrophic organisms that live as saprobes or parasites and include mushrooms, yeasts, smuts, molds, etc. They lack chlorophyll. (12 Dec 1998) |
| alkyl and aryl transferases | <enzyme> A somewhat heterogeneous class of enzymes that catalyze the transfer of alkyl or related groups (excluding methyl groups). Registry number: EC 2.5 (12 Dec 1998) |
| allergy and immunology | A medical specialty concerned with the hypersensitivity of the individual to foreign substances and protection from the resultant infection or disorder. (12 Dec 1998) |
| alligators and crocodiles | Large, long-tailed reptiles, including caimans, of the order loricata. (12 Dec 1998) |
| Amine Precursor Uptake and Decarboxylation | <pharmacology, physiology> Paracrine cells of which argentaffin cells are an example. Usage of the term APUD is neither helpful nor memorable. Acronym: APUD (11 Nov 1997) |
| amino acids, peptides, and proteins | Amino acids and chains of amino acids connected by peptide linkages. (12 Dec 1998) |