| jackstraw | 1. An effigy stuffed with straw; a scarecrow; hence, a man without property or influence. 2. One of a set of straws of strips of ivory, bone, wood, etc, for playing a child's game, the jackstraws being thrown confusedly together on a table, to be gathered up singly by a hooked instrument, without touching or disturbing the rest of the pile. See Spilikin. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| jackwood | Wood of the jack (Artocarpus integrifolia), used in cabinetwork. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| jacobaean lily | <botany> A bulbous plant (Amaryllis, or Sprekelia, formosissima) from Mexico. It bears a single, large, deep, red, lilylike flower. Alternative forms: Jacobean. See: Jacobean. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| Jacobaeus operation | An obsolete term for pleurolysis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Jacobaeus, Hans | <person> Swedish surgeon, 1879-1937. See: Jacobaeus operation. (05 Mar 2000) |
| jacobin | 1. A Dominican friar; so named because, before the French Revolution, that order had a convent in the Rue St. Jacques, Paris. 2. One of a society of violent agitators in France, during the revolution of 1789, who held secret meetings in the Jacobin convent in the Rue St. Jacques, Paris, and concerted measures to control the proceedings of the National Assembly. Hence: A plotter against an existing government; a turbulent demagogue. 3. <zoology> A fancy pigeon, in which the feathers of the neck form a hood, whence the name. The wings and tail are long, and the beak moderately short. Origin: F. See Jack, Jacobite. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| jacobite | 1. A partisan or adherent of James the Second, after his abdication, or of his descendants, an opposer of the revolution in 1688 in favor of William and Mary. 2. One of the sect of Syrian Monophysites. The sect is named after Jacob Baradaeus, its leader in the sixth century. Origin: L. Jacobus James: cf. F. Jacobite. See Jack. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| Jacobson's anastomosis | A portion of the tympanic plexus. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Jacobson's canal | A minute canal passing from the inferior surface of the petrous portion of the temporal bone between the jugular fossa and carotid canal to the floor of the tympanic cavity. Located in the wedge of bone separating the jugular canal and carotid canal, it transmits the tympanic branch of the glossopharyngeal nerve. Synonym: canaliculus tympanicus, Jacobson's canal, tympanic canal. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Jacobson's cartilage | A narrow strip of cartilage located between the lower edge of the cartilage of the nasal septum and the vomer. Synonym: Jacobson's cartilage, paraseptal cartilage, vomer cartilagineus, vomerine cartilage, vomeronasal cartilage. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Jacobson's nerve | <anatomy, nerve> A nerve from the inferior ganglion of the glossopharyngeal nerve, passing through the tympanic canaliculus to the tympanic cavity, forming there the tympanic plexus which supplies the mucous membrane of the tympanic cavity, mastoid cells, and auditory tube; presynaptic parasympathetic fibres also pass through the tympanic nerve via the lesser superficial petrosal nerve to the otic ganglion, where they synapse with postsynaptic fibres that continue to supply the parotid gland. Synonym: nervus tympanicus, Andersch's nerve, Jacobson's nerve. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Jacobson's organ | A specialised part of the olfactory system located anteriorly in the nasal cavity within the nasal septum. Chemosensitive cells of the vomeronasal organ project via the vomeronasal nerve to the accessory olfactory bulb. The primary function of this organ appears to be in sensing pheromones which regulate reproductive and other social behaviours. While the structure has been thought absent in higher primate adults, data now suggests it may be present in adult humans. (12 Dec 1998) |
| Jacobson's plexus | A plexus on the promontory of the labyrinthine wall of the tympanic cavity, formed by the tympanic nerve, an anastomotic branch of the facial, and sympathetic branches from the internal carotid plexus; it supplies the mucosa of the middle ear, mastoid cells, and auditory (eustachian) tube, and gives off the lesser superficial petrosal nerve to the otic ganglion. Synonym: plexus tympanicus, Jacobson's plexus. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Jacobson's reflex | Flexion of the fingers elicited by tapping the flexor tendons over the wrist joint or the lower end of the radius. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Jacobson, Ludwig | <person> Danish anatomist, 1783-1843. See: Jacobson's anastomosis, Jacobson's canal, Jacobson's cartilage, Jacobson's nerve, Jacobson's organ, Jacobson's plexus, Jacobson's reflex. (05 Mar 2000) |