| def | <abbreviation> Decayed, extracted, and filled tooth. See: def caries index. (05 Mar 2000) |
|---|---|
| def caries index | An index of past caries experience based upon the number of decayed, extracted, and filled deciduous (indicated by lower case letters) or permanent (indicated by capital letters) teeth. (05 Mar 2000) |
| defaecation | <gastroenterology> The act or process of defecating, discharge of faeces. (18 Nov 1997) |
| defailance | Failure; miscarriage. "Possibility of defailance in degree or continuance." (Comber) Origin: F. Defaillance. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| defatigation | Weariness, exhaustion, or extreme fatigue. Origin: L. De-fatigo, pp. -atus, to tire out (05 Mar 2000) |
| default | 1. A failing or failure; omission of that which ought to be done; neglect to do whaduty or law requires; as, this evil has happened through the governor's default. 2. Fault; offense; ill deed; wrong act; failure in virtue or wisdom. "And pardon craved for his so rash default." (Spenser) "Regardless of our merit or default." (Pope) 3. A neglect of, or failure to take, some step necessary to secure the benefit of law, as a failure to appear in court at a day assigned, especially of the defendant in a suit when called to make answer; also of jurors, witnesses, etc. In default of, in case of failure or lack of. "Cooks could make artificial birds and fishes in default of the real ones." (Arbuthnot) To suffer a default, to permit an action to be called without appearing to answer. Origin: OE. Defaute, OF. Defaute, defalte, fem, F. Defaut, masc, LL. Defalta, fr. A verb meaning, to be deficient, to want, fail, fr. L. De- + fallere to deceive. See Fault. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| defecate | To perform defecation. (05 Mar 2000) |
| defecation | <gastroenterology> To expel faeces from the rectum. (27 Sep 1997) |
| defecography | The making of rapid-sequence radiographs or the recording of fluoroscopic images on videotape during defecation following the instillation of barium into the rectum. It is used in the evaluation of faecal incontinence. (12 Dec 1998) |
| defect | 1. Want or absence of something necessary for completeness or perfection; deficiency; opposed to superfluity. "Errors have been corrected, and defects supplied." (Davies) 2. Failing; fault; imperfection, whether physical or moral; blemish; as, a defect in the ear or eye; a defect in timber or iron; a defect of memory or judgment. "Trust not yourself; but, your defects to know, Make use of every friend any every foe." (Pope) "Among boys little tenderness is shown to personal defects." (Macaulay) Synonym: Deficiency, imperfection, blemish. See Fault. Origin: L. Defectus, fr. Deficere, defectum, to desert, fail, be wanting; de- + facere = to make, do. See Fact, Feat, and cf. Deficit. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| defect, atrial septal | A hole in the septum, the wall, between the atria, the upper chambers of the heart. Commonly called an ASD. ASDs are a major class of congenital cardiac malformation. (12 Dec 1998) |
| defect, enzyme | An abnormality in the protein (enzyme) important in catalyzing a normal biochemical reaction in the body. Disorders result from a deficiency (or functional abnormality) of an enzyme. Archibald Garrod in 1902 was the first to attribute a disease to an enzyme defect: an inborn error of metabolism. Today, newborns are routinely screened for certain enzyme defects such as phenylketonuria (PKU) and galactosaemia, an error in the handling (metabolism) of the sugar galactose. (12 Dec 1998) |
| defect, ventricular septal | Hole in the interventricular septum, the wall between the ventricles (lower chambers of the heart). Commonly called a VSD. VSDs are a common class of heart deformity present at birth (congenital cardiac malformation). (17 Dec 1998) |
| defective | Denoting or exhibiting a defect; imperfect; a failure of quality. (05 Mar 2000) |
| defective bacteriophage | A temperate bacteriophage mutant whose genome does not contain all of the normal components and cannot become fully infectious virus, yet can replicate indefinitely in the bacterial genome as defective probacteriophage; many defective bacteriophage's are mediators of transduction. Synonym: defective phage. (05 Mar 2000) |