| sectant | One of the portions of space bounded by the three coordinate planes. Specif. <chemistry> One of the parts of a crystal into which it is divided by the axial planes. Origin: L. Secare, sectum, to cut. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
|---|---|
| sectile | <chemical> Capable of being cut; specifically, capable of being severed by the knife with a smooth cut; said of minerals. Origin: L. Sectilis, fr. Secare, sectum, to cut: cf. F. Sectile. See Section. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| sectio | In anatomy, a subdivision or segment. Origin: L. (05 Mar 2000) |
| section | 1. The act of cutting, or separation by cutting; as, the section of bodies. 2. A part separated from something; a division; a portion; a slice. Specifically: A distinct part or portion of a book or writing; a subdivision of a chapter; the division of a law or other writing; a paragraph; an article; hence, the character, often used to denote such a division. "It is hardly possible to give a distinct view of his several arguments in distinct sections." (Locke) A distinct part of a country or people, community, class, or the like; a part of a territory separated by geographical lines, or of a people considered as distinct. "The extreme section of one class consists of bigoted dotards, the extreme section of the other consists of shallow and reckless empirics." (Macaulay) One of the portions, of one square mile each, into which the public lands of the United States are divided; one thirty-sixth part of a township. These sections are subdivided into quarter sections for sale under the homestead and preemption laws. 3. <geometry> The figure made up of all the points common to a superficies and a solid which meet, or to two superficies which meet, or to two lines which meet. In the first case the section is a superficies, in the second a line, and in the third a point. 4. A division of a genus; a group of species separated by some distinction from others of the same genus; often indicated by the sign . 5. A part of a musical period, composed of one or more phrases. See Phrase. 6. The description or representation of anything as it would appear if cut through by any intersecting plane; depiction of what is beyond a plane passing through, or supposed to pass through, an object, as a building, a machine, a succession of strata; profile. In mechanical drawing, as in these Illustrations of a cannon, a longitudinal section (a) usually represents the object as cut through its center lengthwise and vertically; a cross or transverse section (b), as cut crosswise and vertically; and a horizontal section (c), as cut through its center horizontally. Oblique sections are made at various angles. In architecture, a vertical section is a drawing showing the interior, the thickness of the walls, ets, as if made on a vertical plane passed through a building. <mathematics> Angular sections, an instrument to aid in drawing a series of equidistant parallel lines, used in representing sections. Thin sections, a section or slice, as of mineral, animal, or vegetable substance, thin enough to be transparent, and used for study under the microscope. Synonym: Part, portion, division. Section, Part. The English more commonly apply the word section to a part or portion of a body of men; as, a section of the clergy, a small section of the Whigs, etc. In the United States this use is less common, but another use, unknown or but little known in England, is very frequent, as in the phrases "the eastern section of our country," etc, the same sense being also given to the adjective sectional as, sectional feelings, interests, etc. Origin: L. Sectio, fr. Secare, sectum, to cut; akin to E. Saw a cutting instrument: cf. F. Section. See Saw, and cf. Scion, Dissect, Insect, Secant, Segment. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| section, caesarian | Procedure in which an infant, rather than being born vaginally, is surgically removed from the uterus. As the name caesarian suggests, this is not a new procedure. It was done in ancient civilizations upon the death of a pregnant woman near term to salvage the baby. Julius caesar (or, more likely, one of his predecessors) was born by this procedure. The term section in surgery refers to the division of tissue. What is being divided here is the abdominal wall of the mother and the wall of the uterus in order to extract the baby. In shakespeare's macbeth the witches' prophecy was that..none of woman born/ shall harm macbeth (iv.i). Unfortunately for macbeth, the scottish nobleman macduff was from his mother's womb/ untimely ripped. And thus not naturally born of woman (v.vii). Macduff is the only agent capable of destroying macbeth. He kills macbeth in battle. (12 Dec 1998) |
| section, cross | A transverse cut through a structure. The opposite is a longitudinal section. (12 Dec 1998) |
| section, longitudinal | A cut along the long axis of a structure. (12 Dec 1998) |
| section, lower segment cesarian | A Cesarian section in which the surgical incision (cut) is made in the lower segment of the uterus. (12 Dec 1998) |
| sectional impression | An impression that is made in sections. (05 Mar 2000) |
| sectional radiography | <procedure, radiology> The recording of internal body images at a predetermined plane by means of the tomograph, also called body section roentgenography. Origin: Gr. Graphein = to write (18 Nov 1997) |
| sectionalize | To divide according to gepgraphical sections or local interests. "The principal results of the struggle were to sectionalize parties." (Nicilay & Hay (Life of Lincoln)) Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| sectiones | Plural of sectio. (05 Mar 2000) |
| sector | 1. <geometry> A part of a circle comprehended between two radii and the included arc. 2. A mathematical instrument, consisting of two rulers connected at one end by a joint, each arm marked with several scales, as of equal parts, chords, sines, tangents, etc, one scale of each kind on each arm, and all on lines radiating from the common center of motion. The sector is used for plotting, etc, to any scale. 3. An astronomical instrument, the limb of which embraces a small portion only of a circle, used for measuring differences of declination too great for the compass of a micrometer. When it is used for measuring zenith distances of stars, it is called a zenith sector. Dip sector, an instrument used for measuring the dip of the horizon. Sector of a sphere, or Spherical sector, the solid generated by the revolution of the sector of a circle about one of its radii, or, more rarely, about any straight line drawn in the plane of the sector through its vertex. Origin: L, properly, a cutter, fr. Secare, sectum, to cut: cf. F. Secteur. See Section. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| sector scan | In ultrasonography, a system in which the transducer or transmitted ultrasound beam is rotated through an angle, resulting in a pie-shaped image. (05 Mar 2000) |
| sectoranopia | Loss of vision in a sector of the visual field. Origin: sector + G. An-priv. + opsis, vision (05 Mar 2000) |