| nebulosity | 1. The state or quality of being nebulous; cloudiness; hazeness; mistiness; nebulousness. "The nebulosity . Of the mother idiom." (I. Disraeli) 2. <astronomy> The stuff of which a nebula is formed. A nebula. Origin: L. Nebulositas: cf. F. Nebulosite. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| nebulous | 1. Cloudy; hazy; misty. 2. <astronomy> Of, pertaining to, or having the appearance of, a nebula; nebular; cloudlike. Neb"ulously, Neb"ulousness. Origin: L. Nebulosus: cf. F. Nebuleux. See Nebula. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| nebulous urine | Urine with a cloudy appearance, usually due to pus, crystals, bacteria, blood, or free fat globules. Synonym: nebulous urine. (05 Mar 2000) |
| necator | A genus of intestinal parasite worms which includes one of the most important hookworms of man, necator americanus. The only other known species, n. Suillus, has been recovered from pigs. (12 Dec 1998) |
| necator americanus | A common parasite of humans in the moist tropics and subtropics. These organisms attach to villi in the small intestine and suck blood causing diarrhoea, anorexia, and anaemia. (12 Dec 1998) |
| necatoriasis | Infection of humans or animals with hookworms of the genus necator. The resulting anaemia from this condition is less severe than that from ancylostomiasis. (12 Dec 1998) |
| necessary | 1. Such as must be; impossible to be otherwise; not to be avoided; inevitable. "Death, a necessary end, Will come when it will come." (Shak) 2. Impossible to be otherwise, or to be dispensed with, without preventing the attainment of a desired result; indispensable; requiste; essential. "'T is necessary he should die." "A certain kind of temper is necessary to the pleasure and quiet of our minds." (Tillotson) 3. Acting from necessity or compulsion; involuntary; opposed to free; as, whether man is a necessary or a free agent is a question much discussed. Origin: L. Necessarius, from necesse unavoidable, necessary; of uncertain origin: cf. F. Necessaire. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| necessary cause | An aetiological factor without which a result in question will not occur; the occurrence of the result is proof that the factor is operating. (05 Mar 2000) |
| necessity | Origin: OE. Necessite, F. Necessite, L. Necessitas, fr. Necesse. See Necessary. 1. The quality or state of being necessary, unavoidable, or absolutely requisite; inevitableness; indispensableness. 2. The condition of being needy or necessitous; pressing need; indigence; want. "Urge the necessity and state of times." (Shak) "The extreme poverty and necessity his majesty was in." (Clarendon) 3. That which is necessary; a necessary; a requisite; something indispensable; often in the plural. "These should be hours for necessities, Not for delights." (Shak) "What was once to me Mere matter of the fancy, now has grown The vast necessity of heart and life." (Tennyson) 4. That which makes an act or an event unavoidable; irresistible force; overruling power; compulsion, physical or moral; fate; fatality. "So spake the fiend, and with necessity, The tyrant's plea, excused his devilish deeds." (Milton) 5. <psychology> The negation of freedom in voluntary action; the subjection of all phenomena, whether material or spiritual, to inevitable causation; necessitarianism. Of necessity, by necessary consequence; by compulsion, or irresistible power; perforce. Synonym: See Need. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| neck | 1. The part of an animal which connects the head and the trunk, and which, in man and many other animals, is more slender than the trunk. 2. Any part of an inanimate object corresponding to or resembling the neck of an animal; as: The long slender part of a vessel, as a retort, or of a fruit, as a gourd. A long narrow tract of land projecting from the main body, or a narrow tract connecting two larger tracts. That part of a violin, guitar, or similar instrument, which extends from the head to the body, and on which is the finger board or fret board. 3. <mechanics> A reduction in size near the end of an object, formed by a groove around it; as, a neck forming the journal of a shaft. 4. <botany> The point where the base of the stem of a plant arises from the root. Neck and crop, completely; wholly; altogether; roughly and at once. <anatomy> Neck and neck, the constriction between the root and the crown. Neck or nothing, at all risks. Neck verse. The verse formerly read to entitle a party to the benefit of clergy, said to be the first verse of the fifty-first Psalm, "Miserere mei," etc. Hence, a verse or saying, the utterance of which decides one's fate; a shibboleth. "These words, "bread and cheese," were their neck verse or shibboleth to distinguish them; all pronouncing "broad and cause," being presently put to death." (Fuller) Neck yoke. A bar by which the end of the tongue of a wagon or carriage is suspended from the collars of the harnesses. A device with projecting arms for carrying things (as buckets of water or sap) suspended from one's shoulders. On the neck of, immediately after; following closely. "Commiting one sin on the neck of another." Stiff neck, obstinacy in evil or wrong; inflexible obstinacy; contumacy. "I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck." To break the neck of, to destroy the main force of. "What they presume to borrow from her sage and virtuous rules. Breaks the neck of their own cause." To harden the neck, to grow obstinate; to be more and more perverse and rebellious. To tread on the neck of, to oppress; to tyrannize over. Origin: OE. Necke, AS. Hnecca; akin to D. Nek the nape of the neck, G. Nacken, OHG. Nacch, hnacch, Icel. Hnakki, Sw. Nacke, Dan. Nakke. <mechanics> To reduce the diameter of (an object) near its end, by making a groove around it; used with down; as, to neck down a shaft. Origin: Necked; Necking. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| neck dissection | Surgery to remove lymph nodes and other tissues in the neck. (12 Dec 1998) |
| neck injuries | General or unspecified injuries to the neck. It includes injuries to the skin, muscles, and other soft tissues of the neck. (12 Dec 1998) |
| neck injury | Any injury to the soft tissues or bony structures (cervical spine) of the neck. (27 Sep 1997) |
| neck muscles | The neck muscles consist of the platysma, splenius cervicis, sternocleidomastoid(eus), longus colli, the anterior, medius, and posterior scalenes, digastric(us), stylohyoid(eus), mylohyoid(eus), geniohyoid(eus), sternohyoid(eus), omohyoid(eus), sternothyroid(eus), and thyrohyoid(eus). (12 Dec 1998) |
| neck of femur | A short, constricted, strong bar projecting at an obtuse angle (about 125 |