| flection | <gynaecology> A displacement of the uterus in which the organ is bent so far forward or backward that an acute angle forms between the fundus and the cervix. Origin: L. Flexio (18 Nov 1997) |
|---|---|
| fleece | 1. The entire coat of wood that covers a sheep or other similar animal; also, the quantity shorn from a sheep, or animal, at one time. "Who shore me Like a tame wether, all my precious fleece." (Milton) 2. Any soft woolly covering resembling a fleece. 3. The fine web of cotton or wool removed by the doffing knife from the cylinder of a carding machine. Fleece wool, wool shorn from the sheep. Golden fleece. See Golden. Origin: OE. Flees, AS. Fleos; akin to D. Flies, vlies. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| fleece worm | The larva of one of several species of blowflies which deposit eggs on sheep, causing myiasis. Synonym: fleece worm. (05 Mar 2000) |
| fleet | 1. A flood; a creek or inlet; a bay or estuary; a river; obsolete, except as a place name, as Fleet Street in London. "Together wove we nets to entrap the fish In floods and sedgy fleets." (Matthewes) 2. A former prison in London, which originally stood near a stream, the Fleet (now filled up). Fleet parson, a clergyman of low character, in, or in the vicinity of, the Fleet prison, who was ready to unite persons in marriage (called Fleet marriage) at any hour, without public notice, witnesses, or consent of parents. Origin: AS. Fleot a place where vessels float, bay, river; akin to D. Vliet rill, brook, G. Fliess. See Fleet. 1. To pass over rapidly; to skin the surface of; as, a ship that fleets the gulf. 2. To hasten over; to cause to pass away lighty, or in mirth and joy. "Many young gentlemen flock to him, and fleet the time carelessly." (Shak) 3. To draw apart the blocks of; said of a tackle. To cause to slip down the barrel of a capstan or windlass, as a rope or chain. 1. To sail; to float. "And in frail wood on Adrian Gulf doth fleet." (Spenser) 2. To fly swiftly; to pass over quickly; to hasten; to flit as a light substance. "All the unaccomplished works of Nature's hand, . . . Dissolved on earth, fleet hither." (Milton) 3. To slip on the whelps or the barrel of a capstan or windlass; said of a cable or hawser. Origin: OE. Fleten, fleoten, to swim, AS. Fleotan to swim, float; akin to D. Vlieten to flow, OS. Fliotan, OHG. Fliozzan, G. Fliessen, Icel. Fljota to float, flow, Sw. Flyta, D. Flyde, L. Pluere to rain, Gr. To sail, swim, float, Skr. Plu to swim, sail. Cf. Fleet, &, Float, Pluvial, Flow. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| Flegel's disease | Small keratotic papules on the dorsa of the feet and legs, and occasionally elsewhere, with pinpoint keratotic papules of the palms and soles; onset in the fourth and fifth decades; possibly an autosomal dominant trait. Synonym: Flegel's disease. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Flegel, H | <person> 20th century German dermatologist. See: Flegel's disease. (05 Mar 2000) |
| flegmon | 1. <dermatology> A spreading, diffuse inflammatory reaction to infection with microaerophilic streptococci, which forms a suppurative or gangrenous and undermining lesion that may extend into deep subcutaneous tissues and muscles, creating multiple small pockets of pus. Synonym: phlegmonous cellulitis. Compare: cellulitis, erysipelas. 2. <surgery> A solid, swollen, inflamed mass of pancreatic tissue occurring as a complication of acute pancreatitis, which may subside spontaneously or become secondarily infected and develop into an abscess. Origin: Gr. Phlegmon (13 Nov 1997) |
| Fleisch, Alfred | <person> Swiss physician and physiologist, *1892. See: Fleisch pneumotachograph. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Fleischer's ring | An incomplete ring often present at the base of the keratoconus cone; it may be yellow or greenish from deposition of haemosiderin. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Fleischer's vortex | Congenital whorl-like opacities in the cornea. Synonym: Fleischer's vortex. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Fleischer, Bruno | <person> German ophthalmologist, 1874-1965. See: Fleischer's ring, Fleischer's vortex, Kayser-Fleischer ring, Fleischer-Strumpell ring. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Fleischer-Strumpell ring | A greenish yellow pigmented ring encircling the cornea just within the corneoscleral margin, seen in hepatolenticular degeneration, due to copper deposited in Descemet's membrane. Synonym: Fleischer-Strumpell ring. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Fleischmann's bursa | <anatomy> An inconstant serous bursa at the level of the frenulum linguae, between the surface of the genioglossus muscle and the mucous membrane of the floor of the mouth. Synonym: bursa sublingualis, Fleischmann's bursa. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Fleischmann, Friedrich Ludwig | <person> 19th century German anatomist. See: sublingual bursa. (05 Mar 2000) |
| fleischner lines | <radiology> Long line shadows (fibrotic scar) from invagination of pleura at the base of the collapse resulting in pseudofissure, seen in pulmonary infarction (12 Dec 1998) |