| arbitrary | 1. Depending on will or discretion; not governed by any fixed rules; as, an arbitrary decision; an arbitrary punishment. "It was wholly arbitrary in them to do so." (Jer. Taylor) "Rank pretends to fix the value of every one, and is the most arbitrary of all things." (Landor) 2. Exercised according to one's own will or caprice, and therefore conveying a notion of a tendency to abuse the possession of power. "Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused licentiousness." (Washington) 3. Despotic; absolute in power; bound by no law; harsh and unforbearing; tyrannical; as, an arbitrary prince or government. <mathematics> (Dryden) Arbitrary constant, Arbitrary function, one to which any value can be assigned at pleasure. Origin: L. Arbitrarius, fr. Arbiter: cf. F. Arbitraire. See Arbiter. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| adjustable articulator | An articulator which may be adjusted to permit movement of the casts into recorded eccentric relationships, an articulator capable of adjustment to more than one eccentric position. (05 Mar 2000) |
| arcon articulator | An articulator with the equivalent condylar guides fixed to the upper member and the hinge axis to the lower member, an instrument that maintains a constant relationship between the occlusal plane and the arcon guides at any position of the upper member, thereby making possible more accurate reproductions of mandibular movements. (05 Mar 2000) |
| articulator | <dentistry> A special holder for models of your teeth. The articulator holds the models in the same alignment as your jaw so the orthodontist can look carefully at your bite. (08 Jan 1998) |
| non-arcon articulator | An articulator with the equivalent condylar guides attached to the lower member and the hinge axis to the upper member. (05 Mar 2000) |
| active movement | Movement effected by the organism itself, unaided by external influences. (05 Mar 2000) |
| adversive movement | A rotation of the eyes, head, or trunk about the long axis of the body. (05 Mar 2000) |
| ameboid movement | The movement characteristic of leukocytes and protozoan organisms of the superclass Rhizopoda. See: streaming movement, filopodium, lobopodium. (05 Mar 2000) |
| amoeboid movement | <cell biology> Crawling movement of a cell brought about by the protrusion of pseudopods at the front of the cell (one or more may be seen in monopodial or polypodial amoebae, respectively). The pseudopods form distal anchorages with the surface. (05 Feb 1998) |
| assistive movement | In massage, a movement which the partially paralysed muscle of the patient would be unable to perform unaided but which is effected with the graduated assistance of the operator. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Bennett movement | The bodily lateral movement or lateral shift of the mandible during a laterotrusive movement. (05 Mar 2000) |
| bowel movement | Defecation. (05 Mar 2000) |
| brownian movement | Erratic, nondirectional, zigzag movement observed by ultramicroscope in certain colloidal solutions and by microscope in suspensions of light particulate matter that results from the jostling or bumping of the larger particles by the molecules in the suspending medium which are regarded as being in continuous motion. Synonym: brownian motion, brownian-Zsigmondy movement, molecular movement, pedesis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| brownian-Zsigmondy movement | Erratic, nondirectional, zigzag movement observed by ultramicroscope in certain colloidal solutions and by microscope in suspensions of light particulate matter that results from the jostling or bumping of the larger particles by the molecules in the suspending medium which are regarded as being in continuous motion. Synonym: brownian motion, brownian-Zsigmondy movement, molecular movement, pedesis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Magnan's trombone movement | An involuntary forward and back movement of the tongue when it is drawn out of the mouth; may be seen in several basal ganglia disorders. (05 Mar 2000) |