| vegetarian | One who holds that vegetables and fruits are the only proper food for man. Strict vegetarians eat no meat, eggs, or milk. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| vegetarianism | The theory or practice of living upon vegetables and fruits. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| vegetate | 1. To grow, as plants, by nutriment imbibed by means of roots and leaves; to start into growth; to sprout; to germinate. "See dying vegetables life sustain, See life dissolving vegetate again." (Pope) 2. To lead a live too low for an animate creature; to do nothing but eat and grow. "Persons who . . . Would have vegetated stupidly in the places where fortune had fixed them." (Jeffrey) 3. <medicine> To grow exuberantly; to produce fleshy or warty outgrowths; as, a vegetating papule. Origin: L. Vegetatus, p. P. Of vegetare to enliven. See Vegetable. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| vegetation | The plant growth forms that generally occupy a given area (for example, forest, hydrophytes or chaparral). The sum total of macrophytes that occupy a given area. (09 Oct 1997) |
| vegetation unit | A patch, grouping or zone of plants evident in overall plant cover, which appears distinct from other such units because of the vegetation's structure and floristic composition, a given unit is typically topographically distinct and typically has a rather uniform soil, except possibly for relatively dry microsites (for example, tree bases, old tree stumps, mosquito ditch spoil piles and small earth hummocks) in an otherwise wet area or relatively wet microsites (for example small depressions) in an otherwise dry area. (09 Oct 1997) |
| vegetative | 1. Concerned with growth and with nutrition. 2. Functioning involuntarily or unconsciously, as the vegetative nervous system. 3. Resting, denoting the portion of a cell cycle during which the cell is not involved in replication. 4. Of, pertaining to or characteristic of plants. (18 Nov 1997) |
| vegetative bacteriophage | The form of bacteriophage in which the bacteriophage nucleic acid (lacking its coat) multiplies freely within the host bacterium, independently of bacterial multiplication. (05 Mar 2000) |
| vegetative endocarditis | <cardiology, pathology> Endocarditis associated with the presence of fibrinous clots (vegetations) forming on the ulcerated surfaces of the valves. (05 Mar 2000) |
| vegetative fish cover | <ecology> Vegetation materials, such as algal mats and organic debris, capable of providing protection for fish and other aquatic organisms. (06 Mar 2000) |
| vegetative life | The simple metabolic and reproductive activity of humans or animals, apart from the exercise of conscious mental or psychic processes. (05 Mar 2000) |
| vegetative nervous system | <anatomy> Neurons that are not under conscious control, comprising two antagonistic components, the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. The autonomic nervous system regulates key functions including the activity of the cardiac (heart) muscle, smooth muscles (e.g., of the gut), and glands. The autonomic nervous system has two divisions: 1. The sympathetic nervous system that accelerates the heart rate, constricts blood vessels, and raises blood pressure. 2. The parasympathetic nervous system slows the heart rate, increases intestinal and gland activity, and relaxes sphincter muscles. (03 Jul 1999) |
| vegetative pole | The part of a telolecithal egg where the bulk of the yolk is situated. (05 Mar 2000) |
| vegetative propagation | Propagation without pollination by way of separating vegetative parts (i.e., branches, stolons, buds) from the mother plant and planting them so they take root and grow. (09 Oct 1997) |
| vegetative reproduction | <biology, microbiology> Reproduction in which an organism produces one or more clones of itself, such as by fission or budding. (09 Oct 1997) |
| vegetative stage | The quiescent stage of a cell or its nucleus in which no karyokinetic changes are taking place. Synonym: vegetative stage. (05 Mar 2000) |