| spike and wave complex | A generalised, synchronous pattern seen on the electroencephalogram, consisting of a sharply contoured fast wave followed by a slow wave; particularly found in patients with generalised epilepsies. Spike and wave complexes are often characterised by their frequency, e.g., s low spike and wave, fast spike and wave. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| Berk Sharp technique | <molecular biology, procedure> A technique of genetic mapping in which mRNA is hybridised with single stranded DNA and the nonhybridised DNA then digested with S1 nuclease, the residual DNA that hybridised with the messenger is then characterised by restriction mapping. (18 Nov 1997) |
| sharp | 1. Having a very thin edge or fine point; of a nature to cut or pierce easily; not blunt or dull; keen. "He dies upon my scimeter's sharp point." (Shak) 2. Terminating in a point or edge; not obtuse or rounded; somewhat pointed or edged; peaked or ridged; as, a sharp hill; sharp features. 3. Affecting the sense as if pointed or cutting, keen, penetrating, acute: to the taste or smell, pungent, acid, sour, as ammonia has a sharp taste and odour; to the hearing, piercing, shrill, as a sharp sound or voice; to the eye, instantaneously brilliant, dazzling, as a sharp flash. 4. High in pitch; acute; as, a sharp note or tone. Raised a semitone in pitch; as, C sharp (C#), which is a half step, or semitone, higher than C. So high as to be out of tune, or above true pitch; as, the tone is sharp; that instrument is sharp. Opposed in all these senses to flat. 5. Very trying to the feelings; pierching; keen; severe; painful; distressing; as, sharp pain, weather; a sharp and frosty air. "Sharp misery had worn him to the bones." (Shak) "The morning sharp and clear." (Cowper) "In sharpest perils faithful proved." (Keble) 6. Cutting in language or import; biting; sarcastic; cruel; harsh; rigorous; severe; as, a sharp rebuke. "That sharp look." "To that place the sharp Athenian law Can not pursue us." (Shak) "Be thy words severe, Sharp as merits but the sword forbear." (Dryden) 7. Of keen perception; quick to discern or distinguish; having nice discrimination; acute; penetrating; sagacious; clever; as, a sharp eye; sharp sight, hearing, or judgment. "Nothing makes men sharper . . . Than want." (Addison) "Many other things belong to the material world, wherein the sharpest philosophers have never ye arrived at clear and distinct ideas." (L. Watts) 8. Eager in pursuit; keen in quest; impatient for gratification; keen; as, a sharp appetite. 9. Fierce; ardent; fiery; violent; impetuous. "In sharp contest of battle." "A sharp assault already is begun." (Dryden) 10. Keenly or unduly attentive to one's own interest; close and exact in dealing; shrewd; as, a sharp dealer; a sharp customer. "The necessity of being so sharp and exacting." (Swift) 11. Composed of hard, angular grains; gritty; as, sharp sand. 12. Steep; precipitous; abrupt; as, a sharp ascent or descent; a sharp turn or curve. 13. Uttered in a whisper, or with the breath alone, without voice, as certain consonants, such as p, k, t, f; surd; nonvocal; aspirated. Sharp is often used in the formation of self-explaining compounds; as, sharp-cornered, sharp-edged, sharp-pointed, sharp-tasted, sharp-visaged, etc. Sharp practice, the getting of an advantage, or the attempt to do so, by a tricky expedient. To brace sharp, or To sharp up, to turn the yards to the most oblique position possible, that the ship may lie well up to the wind. Synonym: Keen, acute, piercing, penetrating, quick, sagacious, discerning, shrewd, witty, ingenious, sour, acid, tart, pungent, acrid, severe, poignant, biting, acrimonious, sarcastic, cutting, bitter, painful, afflictive, violent, harsh, fierce, ardent, fiery. Origin: OE. Sharp, scharp, scarp, AS. Scearp; akin to OS. Skarp, LG. Scharp, D. Scherp, G. Scharf, Dan. & Sw. Skarp, Icel. Skarpr. Cf. Escarp, Scrape, Scorpion. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| sharp spoon | An instrument with a small cup-shaped extremity having sharpened edges, used for scraping skin lesions. (05 Mar 2000) |
| brain wave complex | A specific combination of fast and slow electroencephalographic activity that recurs frequently enough to be identified as a discrete phenomenon. (05 Mar 2000) |
| neoplasms, complex and mixed | Neoplasms composed of more than one type of neoplastic tissue. (12 Dec 1998) |
| arrhythmias, slow | Abnormally slow heart rhythms, medically termed bradycardia. (12 Dec 1998) |
| slow | To go slower; often with up; as, the train slowed up before crossing the bridge. 1. Moving a short space in a relatively long time; not swift; not quick in motion; not rapid; moderate; deliberate; as, a slow stream; a slow motion. 2. Not happening in a short time; gradual; late. "These changes in the heavens, though slow, produced Like change on sea and land, sidereal blast." (Milton) 3. Not ready; not prompt or quick; dilatory; sluggish; as, slow of speech, and slow of tongue. "Fixed on defense, the Trojans are not slow To guard their shore from an expected foe." (Dryden) 4. Not hasty; not precipitate; acting with deliberation; tardy; inactive. "He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding." (Prov. Xiv. 29) 5. Behind in time; indicating a time earlier than the true time; as, the clock or watch is slow. 6. Not advancing or improving rapidly; as, the slow growth of arts and sciences. 7. Heavy in wit; not alert, prompt, or spirited; wearisome; dull. Slow is often used in the formation of compounds for the most part self-explaining; as, slow-gaited, slow-paced, slow-sighted, slow-winged, and the like. Slow coach, a slow person. See def.7, above. <zoology> Slow lemur, or Slow loris, an East Indian nocturnal lemurine animal (Nycticebus tardigradus) about the size of a small cat; so called from its slow and deliberate movements. It has very large round eyes and is without a tail. Called also bashful Billy. Slow match. See Match. Synonym: Dilatory, late, lingering, tardy, sluggish, dull, inactive. Slow, Tardy, Dilatory. Slow is the wider term, denoting either a want of rapid motion or inertness of intellect. Dilatory signifies a proneness to defer, a habit of delaying the performance of what we know must be done. Tardy denotes the habit of being behind hand; as, tardy in making up one's acounts. Origin: OE. Slow, slaw, AS. Slaw; akin to OS. Slu blunt, dull, D. Sleeuw, slee, sour, OHG. Slo blunt, dull, Icel. Slr, slr, Dan. Slov, Sw. Slo. Cf. Sloe, and Sloth. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| slow channel-blocking agent | calcium channel-blocking agent |
| slow combustion | See: decay. Spontaneous combustion, the ignition of a mass of material by heat developed within it by the oxidation of the substances composing it without external ignition. (05 Mar 2000) |
| slow fever | A continued fever of long duration. (05 Mar 2000) |
| slow muscle | <physiology> Striated muscle used for long term activity (e.g. Postural support). Depend therefore on oxidative metabolism and have many mitochondria and abundant myoglobin. (18 Nov 1997) |
| slow pyrolysis | Thermal conversion of biomass to fuel by slow heating to less than 450>C in the absence of oxygen. (05 Dec 1998) |
| slow ray | <microscopy> The slower of the two rays created by a crystal or fibre and the one that travels the path of higher refractive index. (05 Aug 1998) |
| slow-reacting factor of anaphylaxis | Slow-reacting substance of anaphylaxis (SRS-A), a leukotriene of low molecular weight which is released in anaphylactic shock and produces slower and more prolonged contraction of muscle than does histamine; it is active in the presence of antihistamines (but not epinephrine) and seems not to occur preformed in mast cells, but as a result of an antigen-antibody reaction on the granules. Compare: peptidyl leukotrienes. Synonym: slow-reacting factor of anaphylaxis. (05 Mar 2000) |