| adapter | 1. One who adapts. 2. <chemistry> A connecting tube; an adopter. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
|---|---|
| belt | To encircle with, or as with, a belt; to encompass; to surround. "A coarse black robe belted round the waist." (C. Reade) "They belt him round with hearts undaunted." (Wordsworth) 2. To shear, as the buttocks and tails of sheep. Origin: Belted; Belting. 1. That which engirdles a person or thing; a band or girdle; as, a lady's belt; a sword belt. "The shining belt with gold inlaid." (Dryden) 2. That which restrains or confines as a girdle. "He cannot buckle his distempered cause Within the belt of rule." (Shak) 3. Anything that resembles a belt, or that encircles or crosses like a belt; a strip or stripe; as, a belt of trees; a belt of sand. 4. Same as Band. A very broad band is more properly termed a belt. 5. <astronomy> One of certain girdles or zones on the surface of the planets Jupiter and Saturn, supposed to be of the nature of clouds. 6. <geography> A narrow passage or strait; as, the Great Belt and the Lesser Belt, leading to the Baltic Sea. 7. A token or badge of knightly rank. 8. <mechanics> A band of leather, or other flexible substance, passing around two wheels, and communicating motion from one to the other. 9. A band or stripe, as of colour, round any organ; or any circular ridge or series of ridges. Belt lacing, thongs used for lacing together the ends of machine belting. See: Illust. Of Pulley. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| belt desmosome | <cell biology> Another name for the zonula adherens or adherens junction (18 Nov 1997) |
| belt test | An obsolete test: firm upward pressure on the lower part of the abdomen will remove the feeling of discomfort in cases of enteroptosia. (05 Mar 2000) |
| life-belt cataract | Congenital cataract in which a central white membrane replaces the nucleus. Synonym: disk-shaped cataract, life-belt cataract, umbilicated cataract. (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) |