| jew | Originally, one belonging to the tribe or kingdom of Judah; after the return from the Babylonish captivity, any member of the new state; a Hebrew; an Israelite. Jew's frankincense, gum styrax, or benzoin. <botany> Jew's mallow, an annual herb (Corchorus olitorius) cultivated in Syria and Egypt as a pot herb, and in India for its fibre. Jew's pitch, asphaltum; bitumen. The Wandering Jew, an imaginary personage, who, for his cruelty to the Savior during his passion, is doomed to wander on the earth till Christ's second coming. Origin: OF. Juis, pl, F. Juif, L. Judaeus, Gr, fr. The country of the Jews, Judea, fr. Heb. Yhdah Judah, son of Jacob. Cf. Judaic. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| jew's-ear | <botany> A species of fungus (Hirneola Auricula-Judae, or Auricula), bearing some resemblance to the human ear. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| jew's-harp | Origin: Jew + harp; or possibly a corrupt. Of jaw's harp; cf. G. Maultrommel, lit, mouthdrum]</ety 1. An instrument of music, which, when placed between the teeth, gives, by means of a bent metal tongue struck by the finger, a sound which is modulated by the breath; called also Jew's-trump. 2. The shackle for joining a chain cable to an anchor. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| advanced life support | Definitive emergency medical care that includes defibrillation, airway management, and use of drugs and medications. Compare: basic life support. (05 Mar 2000) |
| artificial life | Artificial life (AL, alife) is a scientific discipline in whichresearchers study life by creating computer programs that recreatebiological systems from scratch. (09 Oct 1997) |
| basic life support | Emergency cardiopulmonary resuscitation, control of bleeding, treatment of shock, acidosis, and poisoning, stabilization of injuries and wounds, and basic first aid. (05 Mar 2000) |
| biological half-life | <biochemistry, biology> This is the time required for one-half of the total amount of a particular substance in a biological system to be consumed or broken down by biological processes when the rate of removal is approximately exponential. Toxic chemicals with a long biological half-life (such as some pesticides) will tend to accumulate in the body and are, therefore, more likely to be harmful. A substance with a short biological half-life may still accumulate if a portion of it it becomes tightly bound to bone or other tissues, even if most of it is quickly cleared from the body. (21 Mar 1998) |
| vegetative life | The simple metabolic and reproductive activity of humans or animals, apart from the exercise of conscious mental or psychic processes. (05 Mar 2000) |
| germ-free life | Animals not contaminated by or associated with any foreign organisms. (12 Dec 1998) |
| change of life | Colloquialism for menopause, climacteric. (05 Mar 2000) |
| RNA life | <biology, molecular biology> A hypothetical life form lacking DNA and protein which may have existed on early earth and in which RNA served both a genetic coding and a catalytic function. (23 Aug 1998) |
| physical half-life | The time required for half the atoms of a radionuclide to undergo disintegration. (05 Mar 2000) |
| wrongful life | In civil law a cause of action which alleges that a defendant has wrongfully caused a child to be born. (12 Dec 1998) |
| postnatal life | That interval of life after birth; in man, usually divided into periods: neonatal, infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. (05 Mar 2000) |
| half-life | 1. <pharmacology> The period over which the concentration of a specified chemical or drug takes to fall to half its original concentration in the specified fluid or blood. 2. <radiobiology> The time required to reduce the amount of a radionuclide to one-half the amount originally present. Physical or radioactive half-life refers to reduction of activity by radioactive decay, biological half-life refers to biological elimination from the body and effective half-life refers to the combined action of radioactive decay and biological elimination. (16 Dec 1997) |