| senna | 1. <medicine> The leaves of several leguminous plants of the genus Cassia. (C. Acutifolia. C. Angustifolia, etc). They constitute a valuable but nauseous cathartic medicine. 2. <botany> The plants themselves, native to the East, but now cultivated largely in the south of Europe and in the West Indies. Bladder senna. <botany> The Cassia Marilandica, growing in the United States, the leaves of which are used medicinally, like those of the officinal senna. Origin: Cf. It. & Sp. Sena, Pg. Sene, F. Sene; all fr. Ar. Sana. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| plus | 1. <mathematics> More, required to be added; positive, as distinguished from negative; opposed to minus. 2. Hence, in a literary sense, additional; real; actual. "Success goes invariably with a certain plus or positive power." (Emerson) 3. <mathematics> Plus sign, the sign (+) which denotes addition, or a positive quantity. Origin: L, more; akin to Gr, and cf. Piu, Pleonasm. (11 Mar 1998) |
| plus lens | A converging lens. Synonym: plus lens. (05 Mar 2000) |
| plus strand | See: replicative form. (05 Mar 2000) |
| fluorescence plus Giemsa stain | <technique> A stain used to demonstrate sister chromatid exchange; cells are grown in 5-bromodeoxyuridine, followed by chromosome preparation, staining in Hoechst 33258, exposure to light, and staining in Giemsa; chromosomes exhibit a "harlequin" appearance. (05 Mar 2000) |