| lethe | 1. A river of Hades whose waters when drunk caused forgetfulness of the past. 2. Oblivion; a draught of oblivion; forgetfulness. Origin: L, fr. Gr, prop, forgetfulness; akin to to forget, to escape notice. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
|---|---|
| letheon | <medicine> Sulphuric ether used as an anaesthetic agent. Origin: NL, fr. Gr. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| LETS | Acronym for large, external transformation-sensitive fibronectin. See: fibronectins. (05 Mar 2000) |
| letter | Written or printed communication between individuals or between persons and representatives of corporate bodies. The correspondence may be personal or professional. In medical and other scientific publications the letter is usually from one or more authors to the editor of the journal or book publishing the item being commented upon or discussed. Letter as a publication type is often accompanied by comment. (12 Dec 1998) |
| letter blindness | Visual agnosia for letters. The subject sees the letters but cannot identify them; caused by a lesion in the occipital cortex. (05 Mar 2000) |
| lettered | 1. Literate; educated; versed in literature. " Are you not lettered?" "The unlettered barbarians willingly accepted the aid of the lettered clergy, still chiefly of Roman birth, to reduce to writing the institutes of their forefathers." (Milman) 2. Of or pertaining to learning or literature; learned. " A lettered education." 3. Inscribed or stamped with letters. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| Letterer, Erich | <person> German pathologist, *1895. See: Letterer-Siwe disease. (05 Mar 2000) |
| letterer-siwe disease | A condition marked by the abnormal appearance of histiocytes (macrophages) in the blood. Lipid h., Niemann-Pick disease. Sinus h., a disorder of the lymph nodes in which the distended sinuses are completely or nearly completely, filled by histiocytes, as a result of active multiplication of the littoral cells. H. X, a generic term embracing eosinophilic granuloma, Letterer-Siwe disease and Hand-Schuller-Christian disease and indicating a shared common origin for the three entities. (16 Dec 1997) |
| letterwood | <botany> The beautiful and highly elastic wood of a tree of the genus Brosimum (B. Aubletii), found in Guiana; so called from black spots in it which bear some resemblance to hieroglyphics; also called snakewood, and leopardwood. It is much used for bows and for walking sticks. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| letts | <ethnology> An Indo-European people, allied to the Lithuanians and Old Prussians, and inhabiting a part of the Baltic provinces of Russia. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| lettuce | <botany> A composite plant of the genus Lactuca (L. Sativa), the leaves of which are used as salad. Plants of this genus yield a milky juice, from which lactucarium is obtained. The commonest wild lettuce of the United States is L. Canadensis. Hare's lettuce, Lamb's lettuce. See Hare, and Lamb. Lettuce opium. See Lactucarium. Sea lettuce, certain papery green seaweeds of the genus Ulva. Origin: OE. Letuce, prob. Through Old French from some Late Latin derivative of L. Lactuca lettuce, which, according to Varro, is fr. Lac, lactis, milk, on account of the milky white juice which flows from it when it is cut: cf. F. Laitue. Cf. Lacteal, Lactucic. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |