| flask | 1. A small bottle-shaped vessel for holding fluids; as, a flask of oil or wine. 2. A narrow-necked vessel of metal or glass, used for various purposes; as of sheet metal, to carry gunpowder in; or of wrought iron, to contain quicksilver; or of glass, to heat water in, etc. 3. A bed in a gun carriage. 4. The wooden or iron frame which holds the sand, etc, forming the mold used in a foundry; it consists of two or more parts; viz, the cope or top; sometimes, the cheeks, or middle part; and the drag, or bottom part. When there are one or more cheeks, the flask is called a three part flask, four part flask, etc. Erlenmeyer flask, a thin glass flask, flat-bottomed and cone-shaped to allow of safely shaking its contents laterally without danger of spilling; so called from Erlenmeyer, a German chemist who invented it. Florence flask. [From Florence in Italy] Same as Betty. A glass flask, round or pear-shaped, with round or flat bottom, and usually very thin to allow of heating solutions. Pocket flask, a kind of pocket dram bottle, often covered with metal or leather to protect it from breaking. Origin: AS. Flasce, flaxe; akin to D. Flesch, OHG. Flasca, G. Flasche, Icel. & Sw. Flaska, Dan. Flaske, OF. Flasche, LL. Flasca, flasco; of uncertain origin; cf. L. Vasculum, dim. Of vas a vessel, Gr, . Cf. Flagon, Flasket. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| Florence flask | A globular long-necked bottle of thin glass used for holding water or other liquid in laboratory work. (05 Mar 2000) |
| acute angle closure glaucoma | <ophthalmology> An increase in pressure within the anterior chamber of the eye. There are two forms of glaucoma: acute angle closure and open angle glaucoma. (27 Sep 1997) |
| angle closure glaucoma | <ophthalmology> Primary glaucoma in which contact of the iris with the peripheral cornea excludes aqueous humor from the trabecular drainage meshwork causing a sudden blockage of the normal fluid circulation within the eyeball resulting in increased intraocular pressure. Increased pressure within the eyeball can cause damage to the optic nerve and blindness. Symptoms include severe eye or facial pain, nausea, vomiting, decreased vision, blurred vision and seeing halos around objects. The eye appears red with a steamy cornea and a fixed (nonreactive) dilated pupil. Treatment is emergent with medications to lower the pressure within the eye. Synonym: acute glaucoma, closed-angle glaucoma, narrow-angle glaucoma. (14 Aug 2000) |
| anodal closure contraction | An obsolete term for the momentary contraction of a muscle under the influence of the positive pole when the electrical circuit is established. (05 Mar 2000) |
| anodal closure tetanus | An obsolete term for a tetanic muscular contraction occurring during the time the circuit is closed, the current then running, while the positive pole is applied. (05 Mar 2000) |
| velopharyngeal closure | The apposition of the palate to the upper posterior pharyngeal wall as in deglutition and in some speech sounds. (05 Mar 2000) |
| cathodal closure contraction | An obsolete term for the momentary contraction of a muscle under the influence of the negative pole when an electrical circuit is established. (05 Mar 2000) |
| cathodal closure tetanus | An obsolete term for a tetanic muscular contraction occurring during the time the circuit is closed, the current then running, while the negative pole is applied. (05 Mar 2000) |
| glaucoma, angle-closure | A form of glaucoma in which the intraocular pressure increases because the angle of the anterior chamber is blocked and the aqueous humor cannot drain from the anterior chamber. (12 Dec 1998) |
| perceptual closure | The tendency to perceive an incomplete pattern or object as complete or whole. This includes the gestalt law of closure. (12 Dec 1998) |
| midline closure defects | <radiology> Anencephaly, encephalocele, 70% occipital, 20% parietal or frontal, 10% basal, agenesis of corpus callosum associated with increased alpha-fetoprotein. (12 Dec 1998) |
| closure | 1. The completion of a reflex pathway. 2. The place of coupling between stimuli in the establishment of conditioned learning. 3. To achieve or experience a sense of completion in a mental task. (05 Mar 2000) |
| closure principle | In psychology, the principle that when one views fragmentary stimuli forming a nearly complete figure (e.g., an incomplete rectangle) one tends to ignore the missing parts and perceive the figure as whole. See: gestalt. (05 Mar 2000) |
| complex closure | <surgery, technique> A sutural repair that may involve multi-layered closure, debridement or advanced tissue repair (plasty). (05 Jan 1998) |