| balearic | Of or pertaining to the isles of Majorca, Minorca, Ivica, etc, in the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Valencia. Balearic crane. <zoology> See Crane. Origin: L. Balearicus, fr. Gr. The Balearic Islands. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| baleen | <zoology> Plates or blades of "whalebone," from two to twelve feet long, and sometimes a foot wide, which in certain whales (Balaenoidea) are attached side by side along the upper jaw, and form a fringelike sieve by which the food is retained in the mouth. Origin: F. Baleine whale and whalibone, L. Balaena a whale; cf. Gr. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| BalI methyltransferase | <enzyme> Recognises 5'-tggcca-3' and methylates first c to produce c(5)-methylcytosine Registry number: EC 2.1.1.- Synonym: methyltransferase bali, DNA methyltransferase bali (26 Jun 1999) |
| Balint's syndrome | <syndrome> An entity characterised by optic ataxia and simultanagnosia. This difficulty in applying the visual system to a visual task is usually due to damage to the superior temporal-occipital areas in both hemispheres. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Balint, Rudolph | <person> Hungarian neurologist and psychiatrist, 1874-1929. See: Balint's syndrome. (05 Mar 2000) |
| balisaur | <zoology> A badgerlike animal of India (Arcionyx collaris). Origin: Hind. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| balistoid | <zoology> Like a fish of the genus Balistes; of the family Balistidae. See Filefish. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| balk | To indicate to fishermen, by shouts or signals from shore, the direction taken by the shoals of herring. Origin: Prob. From D. Balken to bray, bawl. 1. To leave or make balks in. 2. To leave heaped up; to heap up in piles. "Ten thousand bold Scots, two and twenty knights, Balk'd in their own blood did Sir Walter see." (Shak) 3. To omit, miss, or overlook by chance. 4. To miss intentionally; to avoid; to shun; to refuse; to let go by; to shirk. "By reason of the contagion then in London, we balked the nns." (Evelyn) "Sick he is, and keeps his bed, and balks his meat." (Bp. Hall) "Nor doth he any creature balk, But lays on all he meeteth." (Drayton) 5. To disappoint; to frustrate; to foil; to baffle; to hwart; as, to balk expectation. "They shall not balk my entrance." (Byron) Origin: From Balk a beam; orig. To put a balk or beam in one's way, in order to stop or hinder. Cf, for sense 2, AS. On balcan legan to lay in heaps. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| Balkan beam | An overhead frame, supported on uprights attached to the bedposts or to a separate stand, from which a splinted limb is slung in the treatment of fracture or joint disease. Synonym: Balkan beam, Balkan splint. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Balkan frame | An overhead frame, supported on uprights attached to the bedposts or to a separate stand, from which a splinted limb is slung in the treatment of fracture or joint disease. Synonym: Balkan beam, Balkan splint. (05 Mar 2000) |
| balkan nephropathy | A tubulointerstitial disease of unknown aetiology occurring in a limited geographic area including adjacent regions of romania, bulgaria, and yugoslavia. (12 Dec 1998) |
| Balkan splint | An overhead frame, supported on uprights attached to the bedposts or to a separate stand, from which a splinted limb is slung in the treatment of fracture or joint disease. Synonym: Balkan beam, Balkan splint. (05 Mar 2000) |
| ball | 1. Any round or roundish body or mass; a sphere or globe; as, a ball of twine; a ball of snow. 2. A spherical body of any substance or size used to play with, as by throwing, knocking, kicking, etc. 3. A general name for games in which a ball is thrown, kicked, or knocked. See Baseball, and Football. 4. Any solid spherical, cylindrical, or conical projectile of lead or iron, to be discharged from a firearm; as, a cannon ball; a rife ball; often used collectively; as, powder and ball. Spherical balls for the smaller firearms are commonly called bullets. 5. A flaming, roundish body shot into the air; a case filled with combustibles intended to burst and give light or set fire, or to produce smoke or stench; as, a fire ball; a stink ball. 6. A leather-covered cushion, fastened to a handle called a ballstock; formerly used by printers for inking the form, but now superseded by the roller. 7. A roundish protuberant portion of some part of the body; as, the ball of the thumb; the ball of the foot. 8. <veterinary> A large pill, a form in which medicine is commonly given to horses; a bolus. 9. The globe or earth. "Move round the dark terrestrial ball." (Addison) Ball and socket joint, a joint in which a ball moves within a socket, so as to admit of motion in every direction within certain limits. Ball bearings, a mechanical device for lessening the friction of axle bearings by means of small loose metal balls. Ball cartridge, a cartridge containing a ball, as distinguished from a blank cartridge, containing only powder. Ball cock, a faucet or valve which is opened or closed by the fall or rise of a ball floating in water at the end of a lever. Ball gudgeon, a pivot of a spherical form, which permits lateral deflection of the arbor or shaft, while retaining the pivot in its socket. Knight. Ball lever, the lever used in a ball cock. Ball of the eye, the eye itself, as distinguished from its lids and socket; formerly, the pupil of the eye. Ball valve, a sort of iron ore, found in loose masses of a globular form, containing sparkling particles. Three balls, or Three golden balls, a pawnbroker's sign or shop. Synonym: See Globe. Origin: OE. Bal, balle; akin to OHG. Balla, palla, G. Ball, Icel. Bollr, ball; cf. F. Balle. Cf. 1st Bale, Pallmall. 1. <chemistry> To heat in a furnace and form into balls for rolling. 2. To form or wind into a ball; as, to ball cotton. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| ball of the foot | The padded portion of the sole, at the anterior extremity of the heads of the metatarsals, upon which the weight rests when the heel is raised. (05 Mar 2000) |
| ball thrombus | An antemortem thrombus found in the left or right atrium usually in certain cases of mitral stenosis. (05 Mar 2000) |