| wall | 1. A work or structure of stone, brick, or other materials, raised to some height, and intended for defense or security, solid and permanent inclosing fence, as around a field, a park, a town, etc, also, one of the upright inclosing parts of a building or a room. "The plaster of the wall of the King's palace." (Dan. V. 5) 2. A defense; a rampart; a means of protection; in the plural, fortifications, in general; works for defense. "The waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left." (Ex. Xiv. 22) "In such a night, Troilus, methinks, mounted the Troyan walls." (Shak) "To rush undaunted to defend the walls." (Dryden) 3. An inclosing part of a receptacle or vessel; as, the walls of a steam-engine cylinder. 4. <chemical> The side of a level or drift. The country rock bounding a vein laterally. (Raymond) Wall is often used adjectively, and also in the formation of compounds, usually of obvious signification; as in wall paper, or wall-paper; wall fruit, or wall-fruit; wallflower, etc. Blank wall, Blind wall, etc. See Blank, Blind, etc. To drive to the wall, to bring to extremities; to push to extremes; to get the advantage of, or mastery over. To go to the wall, to be hard pressed or driven; to be the weaker party; to be pushed to extremes. To take the wall. To take the inner side of a walk, that is, the side next the wall; hence, to take the precedence. "I will take the wall of any man or maid of Montague's." . <botany> Wall barley, a common European solitary wasp (Odynerus parietus) which makes its nest in the crevices of walls. Origin: AS. Weall, from L. Vallum a wall, vallus a stake, pale, palisade; akin to Gr. A nail. Cf. Interval. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| wall conditioning | <radiobiology> Describes a class of procedures used to control the composition of materials adsorbed onto the walls of a plasma device. Conditioning is important because material from the walls can create impurities in the plasma, and these impurities typically degrade plasma performance. See: boronisation, impurity control, electron cyclotron discharge cleaning. (09 Oct 1997) |
| wall-eye | 1. An eye in which the iris is of a very light gray or whitish colour; said usually of horses. Jonson has defined wall-eye to be "a disease in the crystalline humor of the eye; glaucoma." But glaucoma is not a disease of the crystalline humor, nor is wall-eye a disease at all, but merely a natural blemish. In the north of England, as Brockett states, persons are said to be wall-eyed when the white of the eye is very large and distorted, or on one side. 2. <zoology> An American fresh water food fish (Stizostedion vitreum) having large and prominent eyes; called also glasseye, pike perch, yellow pike, and wall-eyed perch. A California surf fish (Holconotus argenteus). The alewife; called also wall-eyed herring. See: Wall-eyed. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| wall-eyed | Having an eye of a very light gray or whitish colour. Shakespeare, in using wall-eyed as a term of reproach (as "wall-eyed rage," a "wall-eyed wretch"), alludes probably to the idea of unnatural or distorted vision. See the Note under Wall-eye. It is an eye which is utterly and incurably perverted, an eye that knows no pity. Origin: Icel. Valdeygthr, or vagleygr; fr. Vagl a beam, a beam in the eye (akin to Sw. Vagel a roost, a perch, a sty in the eye) + eygr having eyes (from auga eye). See Eye. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| wall loading | <radiobiology> Fusion reactor thermal output power divided by the area of the wall facing the plasma. (Neutron wall loading is 4/5 of the total for D-T fusion.) (09 Oct 1997) |
| wall of nail | The fold of skin overlapping the lateral and proximal margins of the nail. Synonym: vallum unguis, wall of nail. (05 Mar 2000) |
| wall-plat | <zoology> The spotted flycatcher. It builds its nest on walls. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| pneumonia with chest-wall involvement | <radiology> Actinomyces israelii, Nocardia asteroides (12 Dec 1998) |
| posterior wall of middle ear | It contains the opening into the mastoid antrum. Synonym: paries mastoideus cavi tympani, mastoid wall of middle ear, posterior wall of middle ear. (05 Mar 2000) |
| posterior wall of stomach | That part of the gastric wall that faces the omental bursa. Synonym: paries posterior gastris. (05 Mar 2000) |
| posterior wall of vagina | It is longer than the anterior wall and has a low ridge in the midline throughout most of its length. Synonym: paries posterior vaginae. (05 Mar 2000) |
| primary cell wall | <plant biology> A plant cell wall that is still able to expand, permitting cell growth. Growth is normally prevented when a secondary wall has formed. Primary cell walls contain more pectin than secondary walls and no lignin is present until a secondary wall has formed on top of them. (06 Mar 1998) |
| helicoidal cell wall | Type of plant cell wall in which each wall layer contains parallel microfibrils, but in which the orientation of the microfibrils changes by a fixed angle from one layer to the next. Gives a characteristic herringbone pattern in transmission electron microscopy. A similar architecture of fibrillar material is seen in some insect exoskeletons. (18 Nov 1997) |
| secondary wall | <plant biology> The part of the plant cell wall which is laid down on top of the primary wall after the wall has ceased to increase in surface area. Only occurs in certain cell types, for example tracheids, vessel elements and sclerenchyma. Differs from the primary wall both in composition and structure and is often diagnostic for a particular cell type. (18 Nov 1997) |
| hollow wall | A condition of the hoof wall in the toe region of horses, characterised by loss of substance and change in character of the horn, most often as a sequela of mild chronic laminitis. Synonym: dystrophia ungulae, hollow wall. (05 Mar 2000) |