| spurs, heel | Pointed bony outgrowths at the back of the heel or under the heel beneath the sole of the foot. Heel spurs at the back of the heel are associated with inflammation of the achilles tendon (tendinitis) and cause tenderness and pain at the back of the heel made worse while pushing off the ball of the foot. (12 Dec 1998) |
|---|---|
| lark's-heel | <botany> Indian cress. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| gray wedge | <microscopy> An elongated rectangular pattern whose brightness changes from black through shades of gray to white along its length. In calibration wedges, the brightness may vary linearly or logarithmically in discrete steps. (05 Aug 1998) |
| wedge | 1. To cleave or separate with a wedge or wedges, or as with a wedge; to rive. "My heart, as wedged with a sigh, would rive in twain." 2. To force or drive as a wedge is driven. "Among the crowd in the abbey where a finger Could not be wedged in more." (Shak) "He 's just the sort of man to wedge himself into a snug berth." (Mrs. J. H. Ewing) 3. To force by crowding and pushing as a wedge does; as, to wedge one's way. 4. To press closely; to fix, or make fast, in the manner of a wedge that is driven into something. "Wedged in the rocky shoals, and sticking fast." (Dryden) 5. To fasten with a wedge, or with wedges; as, to wedge a scythe on the snath; to wedge a rail or a piece of timber in its place. 6. To cut, as clay, into wedgelike masses, and work by dashing together, in order to expel air bubbles, etc. Origin: Wedged; Wedging. 1. A piece of metal, or other hard material, thick at one end, and tapering to a thin edge at the other, used in splitting wood, rocks, etc, in raising heavy bodies, and the like. It is one of the six elementary machines called the mechanical powers. 2. <geometry> A solid of five sides, having a rectangular base, two rectangular or trapezoidal sides meeting in an edge, and two triangular ends. 3. A mass of metal, especially when of a wedgelike form. "Wedges of gold." 4. Anything in the form of a wedge, as a body of troops drawn up in such a form. "In warlike muster they appear, In rhombs, and wedges, and half-moons, and wings." (Milton) 5. The person whose name stands lowest on the list of the classical tripos; so called after a person (Wedgewood) who occupied this position on the first list of 1828. Fox wedge. <geometry> The portion of a sphere included between two planes which intersect in a diameter. Origin: OE. Wegge, AS. Wecg; akin to D. Wig, wigge, OHG. Wecki, G. Weck a (wedge-shaped) loaf, Icel. Veggr, Dan. Vaegge, Sw. Vigg, and probably to Lith. Vagis a peg. Cf. Wigg. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| wedge-and-groove joint | A form of fibrous joint in which the sharp edge of one bone is received in a cleft in the edge of the other, as in the articulation of the vomer with the rostrum of the sphenoid. Synonym: schindylesis, schindyletic joint, wedge-and-groove suture. (05 Mar 2000) |
| wedge-and-groove suture | A form of fibrous joint in which the sharp edge of one bone is received in a cleft in the edge of the other, as in the articulation of the vomer with the rostrum of the sphenoid. Synonym: schindylesis, schindyletic joint, wedge-and-groove suture. (05 Mar 2000) |
| wedge biopsy | Excision of a cuneiform specimen. (05 Mar 2000) |
| wedge bone | See: intermediate cuneiform bone, lateral cuneiform bone, medial cuneiform bone. (05 Mar 2000) |
| wedge pressure | The intravascular pressure reading obtained when a fine catheter is advanced until it completely occludes a small blood vessel or is sealed in place by inflation of a small cuff; commonly measured in the lung to estimate left atrial pressure. (05 Mar 2000) |
| wedge resection | Removal of a wedge-shaped portion of the ovary; used in the treatment of virilizing disorders of ovarian origin, such as the polycystic ovarian syndrome. (05 Mar 2000) |
| wedge-shaped | 1. Having the shape of a wedge; cuneiform. 2. <botany> Broad and truncate at the summit, and tapering down to the base; as, a wedge-shaped leaf. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| wedge-shaped fasciculus | The larger lateral subdivision of the posterior funiculus. Synonym: fasciculus cuneatus, Burdach's column, Burdach's fasciculus, Burdach's tract, cuneate funiculus, wedge-shaped fasciculus. (05 Mar 2000) |
| wedge-shaped tubercle | tubercle of cuneate nucleus |
| wedge-shell | <zoology> Any one of numerous species of small marine bivalves belonging to Donax and allied genera in which the shell is wedge-shaped. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| wedge spirometer | A waterless spirometer constructed of two large rectangular plates with edges connected by accordion-pleated rubber so that large changes in volume are accommodated by small changes in the acute angle of the wedge-shaped interior, sensed by an electrical transducer; designed for rapid response by reducing the acceleration of the moving parts. (05 Mar 2000) |