| digest | 1. To distribute or arrange methodically; to work over and classify; to reduce to portions for ready use or application; as, to digest the laws, etc. "Joining them together and digesting them into order." (Blair) "We have cause to be glad that matters are so well digested." (Shak) 2. <physiology> To separate (the food) in its passage through the alimentary canal into the nutritive and nonnutritive elements; to prepare, by the action of the digestive juices, for conversion into blood; to convert into chyme. 3. To think over and arrange methodically in the mind; to reduce to a plan or method; to receive in the mind and consider carefully; to get an understanding of; to comprehend. "Feelingly digest the words you speak in prayer." (Sir H. Sidney) "How shall this bosom multiplied digest The senate's courtesy?" (Shak) 4. To appropriate for strengthening and comfort. "Grant that we may in such wise hear them [the Scriptures], read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them." (Book of Common Prayer) 5. Hence: To bear comfortably or patiently; to be reconciled to; to brook. "I never can digest the loss of most of Origin's works." (Coleridge) 6. <chemistry> To soften by heat and moisture; to expose to a gentle heat in a boiler or matrass, as a preparation for chemical operations. 7. <medicine> To dispose to suppurate, or generate healthy pus, as an ulcer or wound. 8. To ripen; to mature. "Well-digested fruits." (Jer. Taylor) 9. To quiet or abate, as anger or grief. Origin: L. Digestus, p. P. Of digerere to separate, arrange, dissolve, digest; di- = dis- + gerere to bear, carry, wear. See Jest. 1. To undergo digestion; as, food digests well or ill. 2. <medicine> To suppurate; to generate pus, as an ulcer. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| genetics, population | The study of the genetic composition of populations and of the effects of factors such as selection, population size, mutation, migration, and genetic drift on the frequencies of various genotypes and phenotypes. (12 Dec 1998) |
| growth rate of population | <epidemiology> A measure of population change in the absence of migration, comprising addition of newborns and subtraction of deaths; the result is known as the natural rate of increase of the population; it is the difference between the crude birth rate and the crude death rate. (05 Mar 2000) |
| rural population | The inhabitants of rural areas or of small towns classified as rural. (12 Dec 1998) |
| p in population genetics | The frequency of the more common of two different alternative (allelic) versions of a gene. (the frequency of less common allele is q). (12 Dec 1998) |
| population | 1. <genetics> A stable group of randomly interbreeding individuals. 2. <statistics> The set of objects or individuals from which a random sample is drawn. Origin: L. Populatio, from populus = people (18 Nov 1997) |
| population characteristics | <epidemiology> Qualities and characterization of various types of populations within a social or geographic group, with emphasis on demography, health status, and socioeconomic factors. (12 Dec 1998) |
| population control | Includes mechanisms or programs which control the numbers of individuals in a population of humans or animals. (12 Dec 1998) |
| population density | <epidemiology> Number of individuals in a population relative to space. (12 Dec 1998) |
| population diffusion coefficient | <cell biology> Coefficient that describes the tendency of a population of motile cells to diffuse through the environment. Its use presupposes that the cells move in a random walk. (18 Nov 1997) |
| population dynamics | <epidemiology> The pattern of any process, or the interrelationship of phenomena, which affects growth or change within a population. (12 Dec 1998) |
| population genetics | <epidemiology, genetics> The study of genetic influences on the components of cause and effect in the somatic characteristics of populations. (05 Mar 2000) |
| population growth | <epidemiology> Increase, over a specific period of time, in the number of individuals living in a country or region. (12 Dec 1998) |
| population pyramid | <epidemiology> Graphical representation of the age and sex composition of a population, constructed by computing the percentage distribution of the population in each age and sex class. (05 Mar 2000) |
| population surveillance | <epidemiology> Ongoing scrutiny of a population (general population, study population, target population, etc.), generally using methods distinguished by their practicability, uniformity, and frequently their rapidity, rather than by complete accuracy. (12 Dec 1998) |