| bees | Insect members of the superfamily apoidea, found almost everywhere, particularly on flowers. About 3500 species occur in north america. They differ from most wasps in that their young are fed honey and pollen rather than animal food. Honey is collected in the form of nectar from flowers and concentrated into honey by evaporation. For most people bee stings are of little significance and are treated locally; other persons, however, react with hypersensitivity putting them in serious danger. (borror, et al., an introduction to the study of insects, 4th ed; smith, insects and other arthropods of medical importance, 1973, p409) (12 Dec 1998) |
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| beeswax | <dentistry> A clear wax used to prevent your braces from irritating your lips when your braces are first put on, or at other times. (08 Jan 1998) |
| beet | 1. <botany> A biennial plant of the genus Beta, which produces an edible root the first year and seed the second year. 2. The root of plants of the genus Beta, different species and varieties of which are used for the table, for feeding stock, or in making sugar. There are many varieties of the common beet (Beta vulgaris). The Old "white beet", cultivated for its edible leafstalks, is a distinct species (Beta Cicla). Origin: AS. Bete, from L. Beta. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| beet sugar | D-sucrose. See: sucrose. (05 Mar 2000) |
| beet-tongue | Sometimes used of the tongue in pellagra, where intense erythema appears, first at the tip, then along the edges, and finally over the dorsum; there may be pain and increased elevation; the shiny appearance results from oedema, not atrophy, except in chronic pellagra. (05 Mar 2000) |
| beetle | Any insect of the order Coleoptera, having four wings, the outer pair being stiff cases for covering the others when they are folded up. See Coleoptera. <zoology> Beetle mite, one of many species of mites, of the family Oribatidae, parasitic on beetles. Black beetle, the common large black cockroach (Blatta orientalis). Origin: OE. Bityl, bittle, AS. Btel, fr. Btan to bite. See Bite. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| beetlehead | 1. A stupid fellow; a blockhead. 2. <zoology> The black-bellied plover, or bullhead (Squatarola helvetica). See Plover. Origin: Beetle a mallet + head. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| beeturia | Urinary excretion of betacyanin after ingestion of beets, found in most iron-deficient individuals and in some normal persons. Synonym: betacyaninuria. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Beevor's sign | <clinical sign> With paralysis of the lower portions of the recti abdominis muscles the umbilicus moves upward. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Beevor, Charles | <person> English neurologist, 1854-1908. See: Beevor's sign. (05 Mar 2000) |
| beg | 1. To ask earnestly for; to entreat or supplicate for; to beseech. "I do beg your good will in this case." (Shak) "[Joseph] begged the body of Jesus." (Matt. Xxvii. 58) Sometimes implying deferential and respectful, rather than earnest, asking; as, I beg your pardon; I beg leave to disagree with you. 2. To ask for as a charity, especially. To ask for habitually or from house to house. "Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread." (Ps. Xxxvii. 25) 3. To make petition to; to entreat; as, to beg a person to grant a favor. 4. To take for granted; to assume without proof. 5. To ask to be appointed guardian for, or to ask to have a guardian appointed for. "Else some will beg thee, in the court of wards." (Harrington) Hence: To beg (one) for a fool, to take him for a fool. I beg to, is an elliptical expression for I beg leave to; as, I beg to inform you. To bag the question, to assume that which was to be proved in a discussion, instead of adducing the proof or sustaining the point by argument. To go a-begging, a figurative phrase to express the absence of demand for something which elsewhere brings a price; as, grapes are so plentiful there that they go a-begging. Synonym: To Beg, Ask, Request. To ask (not in the sense of inquiring) is the generic term which embraces all these words. To request is only a polite mode of asking. To beg, in its original sense, was to ask with earnestness, and implied submission, or at least deference. At present, however, in polite life, beg has dropped its original meaning, and has taken the place of both ask and request, on the ground of its expressing more of deference and respect. Thus, we beg a person's acceptance of a present; we beg him to favor us with his company; a tradesman begs to announce the arrival of new goods, etc. Crabb remarks that, according to present usage, "we can never talk of asking a person's acceptance of a thing, or of asking him to do us a favor." This can be more truly said of usage in England than in America. Origin: OE. Beggen, perh. Fr. AS. Bedecian (akin to Goth. Bedagwa beggar), biddan to ask. (Cf. Bid,); or cf. Beghard, beguin. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| Begbie's disease | Localised chorea. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Begbie, James | <person> Scottish physician, 1798-1869. See: Begbie's disease. (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) |
| Begg, P Raymond | <person> Australian orthodontist, *1898. See: Begg light wire differential force technique. (05 Mar 2000) |