| adder | 1. A serpent. "The eddre seide to the woman." 2. <zoology> A small venomous serpent of the genus Vipera. The common European adder is the Vipera (or Pelias) berus. The puff adders of Africa are species of Clotho. In America, the term is commonly applied to several harmless snakes, as the milk adder, puffing adder, etc. Same as Sea Adder. In the sculptures the appellation is given to several venomous serpents, sometimes to the horned viper (Cerastles). Origin: OE. Addere, naddere, eddre, AS. Naedre, adder, snake; akin to OS. Nadra, OHG. Natra, natara, Ger. Natter, Goth. Nadrs, Icel. Naor, masc, naora, fem., cf. W. Neidr, Gorn. Naddyr, Ir. Nathair, L. Natrix, water snake. An adder is for a nadder. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
|---|---|
| adder's-tongue | <botany> A genus of ferns (Ophioglossum), whose seeds are produced on a spike resembling a serpent's tongue. The yellow dogtooth violet. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| water adder | <zoology> The water moccasin. The common, harmless American water snake (Tropidonotus sipedon). Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| sea adder | <zoology> The European fifteen-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus spinachia); called also bismore. The European tanglefish, or pipefish (Syngnathus acus). Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| attitude to death | Conceptual response of the individual to the various aspects of death, which are based on his psychosocial and cultural experience. (12 Dec 1998) |
| Black Death | <disease, organism> Yersinina pestis is a gram-negative, rod-shaped, faculatively anaerobic bacterial species in the family Enterobacteriaceae. It causes bubonic plaque, which is transmitted by rodent fleas. Historically known as the Black Plague, this disease devastated Europe and Asia in the 1300s. It still exists today and is characterised by sudden high fever, chills, excessively swollen and tender lymph nodes (buboes), followed by tissue bleeding and gangrene. Other complications include pneumonia and septicaemia. (12 Nov 1997) |
| brain death | Total cessation of brain function for 24 hours as manifested by absence of spontaneous movement, absence of spontaneous respiration, and absence of all brainstem reflexes. (12 Dec 1998) |
| rate, death | The number of deaths in the population divided by the average population (or the population at midyear) is the crude death rate. In 1994, for example, the crude death rate per 1,000 population was 8.8 in the united states, 7.1 in Australia, etc. A death rate can also be tabulated according to age or cause. (12 Dec 1998) |
| genetic death | Death of the bearer of a gene at any age before generating living offspring. May be compatible with good health and long life. See: genetic lethal. (05 Mar 2000) |
| maternal death | Death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days after the termination of gestation, irrespective of the duration and site of pregnancy and the cause of death; two periods are recognised in the 42-day interval: period 1 includes day 1 to day 7; period 2 includes day 8 to day 42. Maternal death's are further classified as: (05 Mar 2000) |
| maternal death rate | The number of maternal deaths that occur as the direct result of the reproductive process per 100,000 live births. See: rate. See: maternal death. (05 Mar 2000) |
| cause of death | Factors which produce cessation of all vital bodily functions. They can be analyzed from an epidemiologic viewpoint. (12 Dec 1998) |
| cell death | <cell biology> Cells die (nonaccidentally) either when they have completed a fixed number of division cycles (around 60, the Hayflick limit) or at some earlier stage when programmed to do so, as in digit separation in vertebrate limb morphogenesis. Whether this is due to an accumulation of errors or a programmed limit is unclear, some transformed cells have undoubtedly escaped the limit. See: apoptosis. (26 Mar 1998) |
| cerebral death | A clinical syndrome characterised by the permanent loss of cerebral and brain stem function, manifested by absence of responsiveness to external stimuli, absence of cephalic reflexes, and apnea. An isoelectric electroencephalogram for at least 30 minutes in the absence of hypothermia and poisoning by central nervous system depressants supports the diagnosis. Synonym: brain death. (05 Mar 2000) |
| perinatal death | An inclusive term referring to both stillborn infants and neonatal death's. (05 Mar 2000) |