| dressing | 1. Dress; raiment; especially, ornamental habiliment or attire. 2. <surgery> An application (a remedy, bandage, etc) to a sore or wound. 3. Manure or compost over land. When it remains on the surface, it is called a top-dressing. 4. A preparation to fit food for use; a condiment; as, a dressing for salad. The stuffing of fowls, pigs, etc.; forcemeat. 5. Gum, starch, and the like, used in stiffening or finishing silk, linen, and other fabrics. 6. An ornamental finish, as a molding around doors, windows, or on a ceiling, etc. 7. Castigation; scolding; often with down. Dressing case, a case of toilet utensils. Dressing forceps, a variety of forceps, shaped like a pair of scissors, used in dressing wounds. Dressing gown, a light gown, such as is used by a person while dressing; a study gown. Dressing room, an apartment appropriated for making one's toilet. Dressing table, a table at which a person may dress, and on which articles for the toilet stand. Top-dressing, manure or compost spread over land and not worked into the soil. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| dressing forceps | A forceps for general use in dressing wounds, removing fragments of necrosed tissue, small foreign bodies, etc. (05 Mar 2000) |
| dry dressing | Dry gauze or other material applied to a wound. (05 Mar 2000) |
| occlusive dressing | A dressing that hermetically seals a wound. (05 Mar 2000) |
| tie-over dressing | A dressing placed over a skin graft or other sutured wound and tied on by the sutures which have been left of sufficient length for that purpose. Synonym: bolus dressing. (05 Mar 2000) |
| fixed dressing | A dressing stiffened with a substance that produces immobilization when it dries. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Lister's dressing | The first type of antiseptic dressing, one of gauze impregnated with carbolic acid. (05 Mar 2000) |
| absorption | The process of absorbing, specifically: 1. <physiology> The movement and uptake of substances (liquids and solutes) into cells or across tissues such as skin, intestine and kiidney tubules, by way of diffusion or osmosis. 2. <chemistry> The drawing of a gas or liquid into the pores of a permeable solid. 3. <psychology> The devotion of thought to one object or activity, with inattention to others. 4. <radiology> The taking up of energy by matter with which the radiation interacts. 5. <physics> The loss of (electromagnetic) energy to a medium. For instance, an electromagnetic wave which propagates through a plasma will set the electrons into motion. If the electrons make collisions with other particles, they will absorb net energy from the wave. 6. <immunology> A process in which an antigen or antibody is used to pull an analogous antigen or antibody out of a solution. Compare: adsorption. Origin: L. Absorptio (12 Nov 1997) |
| absorption band | The range of wavelengths or frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum where radiant energy is absorbed by passage through a gaseous, liquid, or dissolved substance; it is exploited for analytical purposes in colourimetry or spectrophotometry, and is usually described in terms of the wavelength where maximum absorbance occurs (i.e., lambdamax). (05 Mar 2000) |
| absorption cell | A small glass chamber with parallel sides, in which absorption spectra of solutions can be obtained. (05 Mar 2000) |
| absorption chromatography | <investigation> Techniques for separating molecules based on differential absorption and elution. Term for separation methods involving flow of a fluid carrier over a nonmobile absorbing phase. (18 Nov 1997) |
| absorption coefficient | <physics> Measures the degree of wave absorption defined as the fraction of wave energy lost as the wave travels a unit distance. See: absorption. (15 Jan 1998) |
| absorption collapse | Pulmonary collapse due to rapid complete obstruction of a large bronchus. (05 Mar 2000) |
| absorption fever | An elevation of temperature often occurring, without other untoward symptoms, shortly after childbirth, assumed to be due to absorption of uterine discharges through abrasions of the vaginal wall. (05 Mar 2000) |
| absorption lines | The dark line's in the solar spectrum due to absorption by the solar and the earth's atmosphere; the phenomenon occurs because rays passing from an incandescent body through a colder medium are absorbed by elements in that medium. (05 Mar 2000) |