| 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) |
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| 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) |
| accouchement force | Forced, artificially hastened delivery, by means of forceps, version, etc.; originally applied to rapid dilation of the cervix with the hands, with version and forcible extraction of the foetus. (05 Mar 2000) |
| anterior component of force | A force operating to move teeth anteriorly. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Begg light wire differential force technique | An orthodontic appliance utilizing small gauge labial wires with expansion and contraction loops formed into it and attached to bands fitted to individual teeth; sometimes called Begg light wire differential force technique. (05 Mar 2000) |
| bite force | The force applied by the masticatory muscles in dental occlusion. (12 Dec 1998) |
| brisement force | Forcible manipulation, usually under anaesthesia, in which the position of a deformed limb is corrected by tearing the soft tissue and crushing the bone, as in a once popular but no longer used correction for club foot deformities. Origin: Fr. Forcible breaking (05 Mar 2000) |
| radial ponderomotive force stabilisation | <radiobiology> In magnetic mirror devices, use of rf waves in the neighborhood of the ion cyclotron frequency to stabilise interchange modes. The radial ponderomotive force produced by a radial gradient in the applied rf electric field opposes the destabilising centrifugal force resulting from bad magnetic field curvature. The net particle current is in the direction that would result from field lines with good curvature, eliminating the drive for the interchange instability. (09 Oct 1997) |
| G force | Inertial force produced by accelerations or gravity, expressed in gravitational units; one G is equal to the pull of gravity at the earth's surface at sea level and 45 |
| masticatory force | The motive force created by the dynamic action of the muscles during the physiologic act of mastication. Synonym: biting strength, masticatory force. (05 Mar 2000) |
| redressement force | Straightening by force of a deformed part, as of knock-knee. Origin: Fr. (05 Mar 2000) |
| centering force | <physics, radiobiology> Term for the mutual attraction between the parallel currents in the inboard leg of the toroidal field coils in a toroidal magnetic fusion system. The portion of the coil running through the doughnut hole is attracted towards the centre of the hole. (13 Nov 1997) |
| reserve force | The energy residing in the organism or any of its parts above that required for its normal functioning. (05 Mar 2000) |
| centrifugal force | <physics> The apparent force which seems to pull an object outward when the object is spun around in a circle. In reality, it is the centripetal force which keeps the object rotating around in the circle when the object's inertia makes the object inclined to move in a straight tangential line away from the circle. The centrifugal force does not really exist and, in a strictly physical sense, the term is a misnomer. However, the term is useful to biologists and chemists who are using centrifuges. (13 Nov 1997) |