| wall | 1. A work or structure of stone, brick, or other materials, raised to some height, and intended for defense or security, solid and permanent inclosing fence, as around a field, a park, a town, etc, also, one of the upright inclosing parts of a building or a room. "The plaster of the wall of the King's palace." (Dan. V. 5) 2. A defense; a rampart; a means of protection; in the plural, fortifications, in general; works for defense. "The waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left." (Ex. Xiv. 22) "In such a night, Troilus, methinks, mounted the Troyan walls." (Shak) "To rush undaunted to defend the walls." (Dryden) 3. An inclosing part of a receptacle or vessel; as, the walls of a steam-engine cylinder. 4. <chemical> The side of a level or drift. The country rock bounding a vein laterally. (Raymond) Wall is often used adjectively, and also in the formation of compounds, usually of obvious signification; as in wall paper, or wall-paper; wall fruit, or wall-fruit; wallflower, etc. Blank wall, Blind wall, etc. See Blank, Blind, etc. To drive to the wall, to bring to extremities; to push to extremes; to get the advantage of, or mastery over. To go to the wall, to be hard pressed or driven; to be the weaker party; to be pushed to extremes. To take the wall. To take the inner side of a walk, that is, the side next the wall; hence, to take the precedence. "I will take the wall of any man or maid of Montague's." . <botany> Wall barley, a common European solitary wasp (Odynerus parietus) which makes its nest in the crevices of walls. Origin: AS. Weall, from L. Vallum a wall, vallus a stake, pale, palisade; akin to Gr. A nail. Cf. Interval. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| wall conditioning | <radiobiology> Describes a class of procedures used to control the composition of materials adsorbed onto the walls of a plasma device. Conditioning is important because material from the walls can create impurities in the plasma, and these impurities typically degrade plasma performance. See: boronisation, impurity control, electron cyclotron discharge cleaning. (09 Oct 1997) |
| wall loading | <radiobiology> Fusion reactor thermal output power divided by the area of the wall facing the plasma. (Neutron wall loading is 4/5 of the total for D-T fusion.) (09 Oct 1997) |
| wall of nail | The fold of skin overlapping the lateral and proximal margins of the nail. Synonym: vallum unguis, wall of nail. (05 Mar 2000) |
| wall-eye | 1. An eye in which the iris is of a very light gray or whitish colour; said usually of horses. Jonson has defined wall-eye to be "a disease in the crystalline humor of the eye; glaucoma." But glaucoma is not a disease of the crystalline humor, nor is wall-eye a disease at all, but merely a natural blemish. In the north of England, as Brockett states, persons are said to be wall-eyed when the white of the eye is very large and distorted, or on one side. 2. <zoology> An American fresh water food fish (Stizostedion vitreum) having large and prominent eyes; called also glasseye, pike perch, yellow pike, and wall-eyed perch. A California surf fish (Holconotus argenteus). The alewife; called also wall-eyed herring. See: Wall-eyed. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| wall-eyed | Having an eye of a very light gray or whitish colour. Shakespeare, in using wall-eyed as a term of reproach (as "wall-eyed rage," a "wall-eyed wretch"), alludes probably to the idea of unnatural or distorted vision. See the Note under Wall-eye. It is an eye which is utterly and incurably perverted, an eye that knows no pity. Origin: Icel. Valdeygthr, or vagleygr; fr. Vagl a beam, a beam in the eye (akin to Sw. Vagel a roost, a perch, a sty in the eye) + eygr having eyes (from auga eye). See Eye. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| wall-plat | <zoology> The spotted flycatcher. It builds its nest on walls. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| wallaba | <botany> A leguminous tree (Eperua falcata) of Demerara, with pinnate leaves and clusters of red flowers. The reddish brown wood is used for palings and shingles. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| wallaby | Origin: From a native name. <zoology> Any one of numerous species of kangaroos belonging to the genus Halmaturus, native of Australia and Tasmania, especially the smaller species, as the brush kangaroo (H. Bennettii) and the pademelon (H. Thetidis). The wallabies chiefly inhabit the wooded district and bushy plains. Alternative forms: wallabee, and whallabee. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| Wallace, Alfred Russel | <person> A British naturalist who founded the field of biogeography and independently formulated a theory of natural selection around the same time that Darwin was doing his work. Lived: 1823-1913. (09 Oct 1997) |
| wallah | <zoology> A black variety of the jaguar. Synonym: tapir tiger. Alternative forms: walla. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| wallaroo | <zoology> Any one of several species of kangaroos of the genus Macropus, especially M. Robustus, sometimes called the great wallaroo. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| wallbird | <zoology> The spotted flycatcher. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| wallenberg's syndrome | <syndrome> Syndrome caused by occlusion of the posterior inferior cerebellar artery, marked by ipsilateral loss of facial pain and temperature sensations, ipsilateral limb ataxia, and contralateral loss of pain and temperature sensations in the trunk and extremities. (12 Dec 1998) |
| Wallenberg, Adolf | <person> German physician, 1862-1949. See: Wallenberg's syndrome. (05 Mar 2000) |
| abdominal wall fat pad biopsy | <investigation, procedure, surgery> The removal of a small specimen of the abdominal wall fat pad for microscopic examination. Often used in the diagnosis of amyloidosis. Performed with a local anaesthetic. (25 Jun 1999) |
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| anterior wall of middle ear | It contains the carotid canal and the opening of the auditory tube. Synonym: paries caroticus cavi tympani, anterior wall of middle ear, carotid wall of middle ear. (05 Mar 2000) |
| anterior wall of stomach | The part of the gastric wall that faces the peritoneal cavity. Synonym: paries anterior gastris. (05 Mar 2000) |
| anterior wall of tympanic cavity | It contains the carotid canal and the opening of the auditory tube. Synonym: paries caroticus cavi tympani, anterior wall of middle ear, carotid wall of middle ear. (05 Mar 2000) |
| anterior wall of vagina | It is somewhat shorter than the posterior wall and at its upper end is penetrated by the cervix of the uterus. Synonym: paries anterior vaginae. (05 Mar 2000) |
| beam-wall reaction | <radiobiology> Fusion reaction which occurs from the collision of a fast beam ion with an ion embedded in or adsorbed onto the reactor wall. (09 Oct 1997) |
| carotid wall of middle ear | It contains the carotid canal and the opening of the auditory tube. Synonym: paries caroticus cavi tympani, anterior wall of middle ear, carotid wall of middle ear. (05 Mar 2000) |
| parietal wall | The body wall or the somatopleure from which it is formed. (05 Mar 2000) |
| mastoid wall of middle ear | It contains the opening into the mastoid antrum. Synonym: paries mastoideus cavi tympani, mastoid wall of middle ear, posterior wall of middle ear. (05 Mar 2000) |
| vestibular wall of cochlear duct | The membrane separating the cochlear duct from the vestibular canal; it consists of squamous epithelial cells with microvilli toward the ductus, a basement membrane, and a thin layer of connective tissue toward the scala. Synonym: membrana vestibularis, paries vestibularis ductus cochlearis, Reissner's membrane, vestibular wall of cochlear duct. (05 Mar 2000) |
| cavity wall | One of the surfaces bounding a cavity. (05 Mar 2000) |
| medial wall of middle ear | A bony layer separating the middle from the internal ear or labyrinth; it contains the fenestra vestibuli and the fenestra cochleae. Synonym: paries labyrinthicus cavi tympani, labyrinthine wall of middle ear, medial wall of middle ear. (05 Mar 2000) |
| medial wall of orbit | The thin, rectangular wall of the orbit formed by the orbital plate of the ethmoid, lacrimal, frontal and a small part of the sphenoid bones; the fossa for the lacrimal sac lies at its anterior limit. Synonym: paries medialis orbitae. (05 Mar 2000) |
| medial wall of tympanic cavity | A bony layer separating the middle from the internal ear or labyrinth; it contains the fenestra vestibuli and the fenestra cochleae. Synonym: paries labyrinthicus cavi tympani, labyrinthine wall of middle ear, medial wall of middle ear. (05 Mar 2000) |
| cell wall | 1. <cell biology> Extracellular material serving a structural role. 2. <plant biology> In plants the primary wall is pectin rich, the secondary wall mostly composed of cellulose. 3. <microbiology> In bacteria, cell wall structure is complex: the walls of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria are distinctly different. Removal of the wall leaves a protoplast or spheroplast. (07 Apr 1998) |