| nova scotia | A province of eastern canada, one of the maritime provinces with new brunswick, prince edward island, and sometimes newfoundland. Its capital is halifax. The territory was granted in 1621 by james I to the scotsman sir william alexander and was called nova scotia, the latin for new scotland. The territory had earlier belonged to the french, under the name of acadia. (12 Dec 1998) |
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| Russian spring-summer encephalitis virus | An arbovirus of the genus Flavivirus that occurs in Central Europe and the USSR in two subtypes, causing two forms of encephalitis in humans: tick-borne encephalitis (Central European subtype) and tick-borne encephalitis (Eastern subtype); the vectors are ticks of the genus Ixodes. Synonym: Russian spring-summer encephalitis virus, tick-borne virus. (05 Mar 2000) |
| haemoglobin Constant Spring | An abnormal haemoglobin having an extended polypeptide chain (31 additional amino acid residues) on the a chain (thus, the a chain is 172 amino acids long); approximately 20% of the individuals with Hb H disease also have this defect. (05 Mar 2000) |
| spring | 1. To leap; to bound; to jump. "The mountain stag that springs From height to height, and bounds along the plains." (Philips) 2. To issue with speed and violence; to move with activity; to dart; to shoot. "And sudden light Sprung through the vaulted roof." (Dryden) 3. To start or rise suddenly, as from a covert. "Watchful as fowlers when their game will spring." (Otway) 4. To fly back; as, a bow, when bent, springs back by its elastic power. 5. To bend from a straight direction or plane surface; to become warped; as, a piece of timber, or a plank, sometimes springs in seasoning. 6. To shoot up, out, or forth; to come to the light; to begin to appear; to emerge; as a plant from its seed, as streams from their source, and the like; -often followed by up, forth, or out. "Till well nigh the day began to spring." (Chaucer) "To satisfy the desolate and waste ground, and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth." (Job xxxviii. 27) "Do not blast my springing hopes." (Rowe) "O, spring to light; auspicious Babe, be born." (Pope) 7. To issue or proceed, as from a parent or ancestor; to result, as from a cause, motive, reason, or principle. "[They found] new hope to spring Out of despair, joy, but with fear yet linked." (Milton) 8. To grow; to prosper. "What makes all this, but Jupiter the king, at whose command we perish, and we spring?" (Dryden) To spring at, to leap toward; to attempt to reach by a leap. To spring forth, to leap out; to rush out. To spring in, to rush in; to enter with a leap or in haste. To spring on or upon, to leap on; to rush on with haste or violence; to assault. Origin: AS. Springan; akin to D. & G. Springen, OS. & OHG. Springan, Icel. & Sw. Springa, Dan. Springe; cf. Gr. To hasten. Cf. Springe, Sprinkle. 1. To cause to spring up; to start or rouse, as game; to cause to rise from the earth, or from a covert; as, to spring a pheasant. 2. To produce or disclose suddenly or unexpectedly. "She starts, and leaves her bed, amd springs a light." (Dryden) "The friends to the cause sprang a new project." (Swift) 3. To cause to explode; as, to spring a mine. 4. To crack or split; to bend or strain so as to weaken; as, to spring a mast or a yard. 5. To cause to close suddenly, as the parts of a trap operated by a spring; as, to spring a trap. 6. To bend by force, as something stiff or strong; to force or put by bending, as a beam into its sockets, and allowing it to straighten when in place; often with in, out, etc.; as, to spring in a slat or a bar. 7. To pass over by leaping; as, to spring a fence. To spring a butt, to strain it so that it is unserviceable. 1. A leap; a bound; a jump. "The prisoner, with a spring, from prison broke." (Dryden) 2. A flying back; the resilience of a body recovering its former state by elasticity; as, the spring of a bow. 3. Elastic power or force. "Heavens! what a spring was in his arm!" (Dryden) 4. An elastic body of any kind, as steel, India rubber, tough wood, or compressed air, used for various mechanical purposes, as receiving and imparting power, diminishing concussion, regulating motion, measuring weight or other force. The principal varieties of springs used in mechanisms are the spiral spring (Fig. A), the coil spring (Fig. B), the elliptic spring (Fig. C), the half-elliptic spring (Fig. D), the volute spring, the India-rubber spring, the atmospheric spring, etc. 5. Any source of supply; especially, the source from which a stream proceeds; as issue of water from the earth; a natural fountain. "All my springs are in thee." "A secret spring of spiritual joy." "The sacred spring whence and honor streams." 6. Any active power; that by which action, or motion, is produced or propagated; cause; origin; motive. "Our author shuns by vulgar springs to move The hero's glory, or the virgin's love." (Pope) 7. That which springs, or is originated, from a source; as: A race; lineage. A youth; a springal. A shoot; a plant; a young tree; also, a grove of trees; woodland. 8. That which causes one to spring; specifically, a lively tune. 9. The season of the year when plants begin to vegetate and grow; the vernal season, usually comprehending the months of March, April, and May, in the middle latitudes north of the equator. "The green lap of the new-come spring." Spring of the astronomical year begins with the vernal equinox, about March 21st, and ends with the summer solstice, about June 21st. 10. The time of growth and progress; early portion; first stage. "The spring of the day." "O how this spring of love resembleth The uncertain glory of an April day." (Shak) 11. A crack or fissure in a mast or yard, running obliquely or transversely. A line led from a vessel's quarter to her cable so that by tightening or slacking it she can be made to lie in any desired position; a line led diagonally from the bow or stern of a vessel to some point upon the wharf to which she is moored. Air spring, Boiling spring, etc. See Air, Boiling, etc. Spring back, a back with a curved piece of thin sheet iron or of stiff pasteboard fastened to the inside, the effect of which is to make the leaves of a book thus bound (as a ledger or other account or blank book) spring up and lie flat. Spring balance, a contrivance for measuring weight or force by the elasticity of a spiral spring of steel. Spring beam, a beam that supports the side of a paddle box. See Paddle beam, under Paddle, Spring beauty. <botany> See Springing line of an arch, under Springing. Spring of pork, the lower part of a fore quarter, which is divided from the neck, and has the leg and foot without the shoulder. "Sir, pray hand the spring of pork to me. <engineering>" (Gayton) Spring pin, an iron rod fitted between the springs and the axle boxes, to sustain and regulate the pressure on the axles. Spring rye, a kind of rye sown in the spring; in distinction from winter rye, sown in autumn. Spring stay, a preventer stay, to assist the regular one. Spring tide, the tide which happens at, or soon after, the new and the full moon, and which rises higher than common tides. See Tide. Spring wagon, a wagon in which springs are interposed between the body and the axles to form elastic supports. Spring wheat, any kind of wheat sown in the spring; in distinction from winter wheat, which is sown in autumn. Origin: AS. Spring a fountain, a leap. See Spring. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| spring conjunctivitis | A chronic, bilateral conjunctival inflammation with photophobia and intense itching that recurs seasonally during warm weather; characterised in the palpebral form by cobblestone papillae in the upper palpebral conjunctiva and in the bulbar form by gelatinous nodules adjacent to the corneoscleral limbus. Synonym: allergic conjunctivitis, spring conjunctivitis, spring ophthalmia, vernal catarrh, vernal keratoconjunctivitis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| spring finger | An affection in which the movement of the finger is arrested for a moment in flexion or extension and then continues with a jerk. Synonym: jerk finger, lock finger, snap finger, spring finger, stuck finger. (05 Mar 2000) |
| spring lancet | A lancet with a handle containing a blade that is activated by a spring. (05 Mar 2000) |
| spring ligament | <anatomy> A dense fibroelastic ligament that extends from the sustentaculum tali to the plantar surface of the navicular bone; it supports the head of the talus. Synonym: ligamentum calcaneonaviculare plantare, inferior calcaneonavicular ligament, spring ligament. (05 Mar 2000) |
| spring ophthalmia | A chronic, bilateral conjunctival inflammation with photophobia and intense itching that recurs seasonally during warm weather; characterised in the palpebral form by cobblestone papillae in the upper palpebral conjunctiva and in the bulbar form by gelatinous nodules adjacent to the corneoscleral limbus. Synonym: allergic conjunctivitis, spring conjunctivitis, spring ophthalmia, vernal catarrh, vernal keratoconjunctivitis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| spring-run fish | <marine biology> Anadromous fish that return to fresh water in the spring, migrate to spawning areas and spawn during late summer or early autumn. (04 Mar 1998) |
| bird face | bird face, abnormal shortness or recession of the mandible (27 Sep 1997) |
| masklike face | The expressionless or masklike facies characteristic of parkinsonism. Synonym: masklike face. (05 Mar 2000) |
| partial face-sparing lipodystrophy | A syndrome beginning at puberty that resembles total lipodystrophy but is inherited as an autosomal or X-linked dominant form. (05 Mar 2000) |
| regions of face | The topographical subdivisions of the face, including nasal, oral, mental, orbital, infraorbital, buccal, and zygomatic. Synonym: regiones faciales. (05 Mar 2000) |
| P face | Method of specimen preparation for the electron microscope in which rapidly frozen tissue is cracked so as to produce a fracture plane through the specimen. The surface of the fracture plane is then shadowed by heavy metal vapour, strengthened by a carbon film and the underlying specimen is digested away, leaving a replica that can be picked up on a grid and examined in the transmission electron microscope. The great advantage of the method is that the fracture plane tends to pass along the centre of lipid bilayers and it is therefore possible to get en face views of membranes that reveal the pattern of Integral membrane proteins. The E face is the outer lamella of the plasma membrane viewed as if from within the cell, the P face the inner lamella viewed from outside the cell. Fracture planes also often pass along lines of weakness such as the interface between cytoplasm and membrane, so that outer and inner membrane surfaces can be viewed. Further information about the structure can be revealed by freeze etching. Extremely rapid freezing followed by deep etching has allowed the structure of the cytoplasm to be studied without the artefacts that might be introduced by fixation. (18 Nov 1997) |