| viceroy | 1. The governor of a country or province who rules in the name of the sovereign with regal authority, as the king's substitute; as, the viceroy of India. 2. <zoology> A large and handsome American butterfly (Basilarchia, or Limenitis, archippus). Its wings are orange-red, with black lines along the nervures and a row of white spots along the outer margins. The larvae feed on willow, poplar, and apple trees. Origin: F. Vice-roi; pref. Vice- in the place of (L. Vice) + roi a king, L. Rex. See Vice, and Royal. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| vichy water | A mineral water found at Vichy, France. It is essentially an effervescent solution of sodium, calcium, and magnetism carbonates, with sodium and potassium chlorides; also, by extension, any artificial or natural water resembling in composition the Vichy water proper. Called also, colloquially, Vichy. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| vicilin | <protein> Seed storage protein of legumes. Protein from Pisum sativum is a trimer of 50 kD subunits. High proportion of _ pleated sheet (40-50%) and only about 10% _ helix. (18 Nov 1997) |
| vicinal | <chemical> Vicinal planes, subordinate planes on a crystal, which are very near to the fundamental planes in angles, and sometimes take their place. They have in general very complex symbols. Origin: L. Vicinalis: cf. F. Vicinal. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| vicine | <chemistry> An alkaloid ex tracted from the seeds of the vetch (Vicia sativa) as a white crystalline substance. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| vicious cicatrix | A cicatrix that by its contraction causes a deformity. (05 Mar 2000) |
| vicious circle | The mutually accelerating action of two independent diseases or phenomena, or of a primary and secondary affection, the passage of food, after a gastroenterostomy, from the artificial opening through the intestinal loop by antiperistaltic action and back into the stomach again by the pyloric orifice, or the reverse. (05 Mar 2000) |
| vicious union | <orthopaedics> Union of the ends of a broken bone resulting in a deformity or a crooked limb; frequently used interchangeably with faulty union. Synonym: malunion. (05 Mar 2000) |
| vicissy duck | <zoology> A West Indian duck, sometimes domesticated. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| Vicq d'Azyr's bundle | A compact, thick bundle of nerve fibres that passes dorsalward from the mamillary body on either side to terminate in the anterior nucleus of the thalamus. Synonym: fasciculus mamillothalamicus, fasciculus thalamomamillaris, mamillothalamic tract, Vicq d'Azyr's bundle. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Vicq d'Azyr's centrum semiovale | The great mass of white matter composing the interior of the cerebral hemisphere; the name refers to the general shape of this white core in horizontal sections of the hemisphere. Synonym: centrum medullare, centrum ovale, medullary centre, semioval centre, Vicq d'Azyr's centrum semiovale, Vieussens' centrum. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Vicq d'Azyr's foramen | <anatomy> A small triangular depression at the lower boundary of the pons that marks the upper limit of the median fissure of the medulla oblongata. Synonym: foramen caecum posterius, Vicq d'Azyr's foramen. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Vicq d'Azyr, Felix | <person> French anatomist, 1748-1794. See: Vicq d'Azyr's bundle, Vicq d'Azyr's centrum semiovale, Vicq d'Azyr's foramen. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Victor-Michaelis-Menten equation | <chemistry> Equation derived from a simple kinetic model for a single-substrate non-cooperative enzyme-catalyzed reaction that successfully accounts for the hyperbolic adsorption isotherm) relationship between substrate concentration and reaction rate. V = Vmax x S/(S + Km), where V is the initial velocity of the reaction, Km is the Michaelis constant, Vmax is the maximum rate approached by very high substrate concentrations and S is the initial substrate concentration. Similar equations can be derived for conditions in which the product is present and for multisubstrate enzymes. Synonym: Victor-Michaelis-Menten equation. (12 Jul 2000) |
| victoria | 1. <botany> A genus of aquatic plants named in honor of Queen Victoria. The Victoria regia is a native of Guiana and Brazil. Its large, spreading leaves are often over five feet in diameter, and have a rim from three to five inches high; its immense rose-white flowers sometimes attain a diameter of nearly two feet. 2. A kind of low four-wheeled pleasure carriage, with a calash top, designed for two persons and the driver who occupies a high seat in front. 3. <astronomy> An asteroid discovered by Hind in 1850; called also Clio. Victoria cross, a bronze Maltese cross, awarded for valor to members of the British army or navy. It was first bestowed in 1857, at the close of the Crimean war. The recipients also have a pension of |