| attitude to death | Conceptual response of the individual to the various aspects of death, which are based on his psychosocial and cultural experience. (12 Dec 1998) |
|---|---|
| attitude to health | Public attitudes toward health, disease, and the medical care system. (12 Dec 1998) |
| attitudinal | Relating to a posture of the body; e.g., attitudinal (statotonic) reflex. (05 Mar 2000) |
| attitudinal reflexes | Reflex's in which utricular receptors in the vestibular apparatus sense changes in the head's position in space in terms of linear acceleration and the earth's gravitational field while receptors in the neck muscles sense changes in the position of the head relative to the trunk; input from these receptors reflexly controls the tone of the limb muscles to maintain or regain the desired posture. Synonym: attitudinal reflexes. (05 Mar 2000) |
| attle | <chemical> Rubbish or refuse consisting of broken rock containing little or no ore. Origin: Cf. Addle mire. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| atto- | <prefix> Prefix used in the SI and metric systems to signify one quintillionth (10-18). Origin: Danish atten, eighteen (05 Mar 2000) |
| attollens | Raising up; in anatomy, muscle action that lifts. Origin: L. At-tollo, pres. P. -tollens, to lift up (05 Mar 2000) |
| attollens aurem | <anatomy, muscle> Origin, galea aponeurotica; insertion, cartilage of auricle; action draws pinna of ear upward and backward; nerve supply, facial. Considered by some to be the posterior part of the temporoparietal muscle. Synonym: musculus auricularis superior, attollens aurem, attollens auriculam, musculus attollens aurem, musculus attollens auriculam. (05 Mar 2000) |
| attollens oculi | <anatomy, muscle> Origin, superior part of common tendinous ring; insertion, superior part of sclera of the eye; action, primary, elevation; secondary, adduction and intorsion; nerve supply, oculomotor. Synonym: musculus rectus superior, attollens oculi. (05 Mar 2000) |
| attollent | Lifting up; raising; as, an attollent muscle. Origin: L. Attollens, p. Pr. Of attollere; ad + tollere to lift. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| attorn | 1. To turn, or transfer homage and service, from one lord to another. This is the act of feudatories, vassals, or tenants, upon the alienation of the estate. 2. To agree to become tenant to one to whom reversion has been granted. Origin: OF. Atorner, aturner, atourner, to direct, prepare, dispose, attorn (cf. OE. Atornen to return, adorn); a (L. Ad) + torner to turn; cf. LL. Attornare to commit business to another, to attorn; ad + tornare to turn, L. Tornare to turn in a lathe, to round off. See Turn. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| attornment | The act of a feudatory, vassal, or tenant, by which he consents, upon the alienation of an estate, to receive a new lord or superior, and transfers to him his homage and service; the agreement of a tenant to acknowledge the purchaser of the estate as his landlord. Origin: OF. Attornement, LL. Attornamentum. See Attorn. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| attraction | 1. <physics> An invisible power in a body by which it draws anything to itself; the power in nature acting mutually between bodies or ultimate particles, tending to draw them together, or to produce their cohesion or combination, and conversely resisting separation. Attraction is exerted at both sensible and insensible distances, and is variously denominated according to its qualities or phenomena. Under attraction at sensible distances, there are, (1) Attraction of gravitation, which acts at all distances throughout the universe, with a force proportional directly to the product of the masses of the bodies and inversely to the square of their distances apart. (2) Magnetic, diamagnetic, and electrical attraction, each of which is limited in its sensible range and is polar in its action, a property dependent on the quality or condition of matter, and not on its quantity. Under attraction at insensible distances, there are, (1) Adhesive attraction, attraction between surfaces of sensible extent, or by the medium of an intervening substance. (2) Cohesive attraction, attraction between ultimate particles, whether like or unlike, and causing simply an aggregation or a union of those particles, as in the absorption of gases by charcoal, or of oxygen by spongy platinum, or the process of solidification or crystallization. The power in adhesive attraction is strictly the same as that of cohesion. (3) Capillary attraction, attraction causing a liquid to rise, in capillary tubes or interstices, above its level outside, as in very small glass tubes, or a sponge, or any porous substance, when one end is inserted in the liquid. It is a special case of cohesive attraction. (4) Chemical attraction, or affinity, that peculiar force which causes elementary atoms, or groups of atoms, to unite to form molecules. 2. The act or property of attracting; the effect of the power or operation of attraction. 3. The power or act of alluring, drawing to, inviting, or engaging; an attractive quality; as, the attraction of beauty or eloquence. 4. That which attracts; an attractive object or feature. Synonym: Allurement, enticement, charm. Origin: L. Attractio: cf. F. Attraction. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| attraction sphere | A set of radiating microtubules extending outward from the cytocentrum and centrosphere of a dividing cell. Synonym: aster, attraction sphere, Lavdovsky's nucleoid, paranuclear body. Origin: G. Astron, star, + sphaira, ball (05 Mar 2000) |
| attrahens | Drawing toward, denoting a muscle (attrahens aurem or auriculam) rudimentary in man, that tends to draw the pinna of the ear forward. See: anterior auricular. Origin: see attraction (05 Mar 2000) |