RobertHaigh's entries
Here's the list of entries submitted by RobertHaigh — There are currently 46 entries total — keep up the great work!
| equations of motion | Mathematical equations that give the position and velocity of a moving object at any time. Given the mass of an object, the forces acting on it, and its initial position and velocity, the equations of motion are used to calculate its position and velocity at any later time. The equations must be based on Newton's laws of motion or, if speeds near that of light are involved, on the theory of relativity. | added 4 years ago |
| encephalin | A naturally occuring chemical produced by nerve cells in the brain that has the same effect as morphine or other derivatives of opium, acting as a natural painkiller. Unlike morphine, encephalins are quickly degraded by the body, so there is no buildup of tolerance to them, and hence no addiction. | added 4 years ago |
| skittering | A fishing term: skipping or skimming a lure or hook lightly over the water. | added 4 years ago |
| hackle fly | A fishing term: an artificial fly in which the legs and wings are represented by hackle feathers. | added 4 years ago |
| thermomotor | Noun: a heat engine; engine operated by the expansion of heated gas. | added 4 years ago |
| learnèd word | A word taken from a classical language. For example, instead of breakable, English often uses the Latin word fragile; instead of dog we sometimes use the Latin word canine; instead of saying that a disease is catching, we often prefer the Latin word infectious. | added 4 years ago |
| committal proceedings | In the UK, a preliminary hearing in a magistrate's court to decide whether there is a case to answer before a higher court. The media may only report limited facts about committal proceedings, such as the name of the accused and the charges, unless the defendant asks for reporting restrictions to be lifted, | added 4 years ago |
| labelled compound | A labelled compound (or tagged compound) is a chemical compound in which a radioactive isotope is substituted for a stable one. The path taken by such a compound through a system can be followed, for example by measuring the radiation emitted. | added 4 years ago |
| nemesis theory | Theory of animal extinction, suggesting that a sister star to the sun caused extinction of groups of animals such as dinosaurs. The theory holds that the movement of this as yet undiscovered star disrupts the Oort cloud of comets every 26 million years, resulting in the Earth suffering an increased bombardment from comets at these times. | added 4 years ago |
| negative/positive | In photography, a reverse image, which when printed is again reversed, restoring the original scene. It was invented by Fox Talbot in c.1834. | added 4 years ago |
| motor effect | Tendency of a wire carrying an electric current in a magnetic field to move. | added 4 years ago |
| guberniya | A guberniya (or gubernia) was a major and principal administrative subdivision of the Russian Empire. They were abolished in 1929. | added 4 years ago |
| peelie-wally | adjective SCOTTISH pale and sickly in appearance. "His face assumed a peely-wally hue." | added 4 years ago |
| High Court of Tynwald | The High Court of Tynwald is the parliament of the Isle of Man and has an unlimited, but not necessarily exclusive, legislative competence. Tynwald is of Norse origin and over 1,000 years old, and is thus the oldest parliament in the world with an unbroken existence. | added 4 years ago |
| transferred epithet | This is the name for the curious English construction in which an adjective is understood as modifying, not the noun following it, but somebody or something else: "She was smoking a pensive cigarette." Here it is not the cigarette which is pensive but the woman smoking it. | added 4 years ago |
| St Elmo's fire | (noun) a phenomenon in which a luminous electrical discharge appears on a ship or aircraft during a storm. | added 4 years ago |
| lightning chess | A form of chess in which each player must move much faster than normal. Time is controlled by a clock or a buzzer. Failure to move within the time limit means forfeiture of the game. | added 4 years ago |
| intellectual myopia | a phrase coined for stupidity. | added 4 years ago |
| jib sheet | (noun) SAILING a rope by which a jib is trimmed. | added 4 years ago |
| orthoclase | Noun) a common rock-forming mineral occurring typically as white or pink crystals. It is a potassium-rich alkali feldspar and is used in ceramics and glass-making. | added 4 years ago |
| bujutsu | (noun) an umbrella term that covers all of the traditional Japanese martial arts such as Kenjutsu, SoJutsu, JoJutsu and so on and was originally the sole preserve of the Samurai though nowadays Bujutsu techniques are practiced by many people around the world. | added 4 years ago |
| leaf hammer | (noun) a blacksmith's specialist tool | added 4 years ago |
| breadnut | (noun) the round, yellow or brown fruit of the ramon, Brosimum alicastrum, of the mulberry family, used, roasted or boiled, as a substitute for bread in the West Indies. | added 4 years ago |
| fish dive | ballet term - a move in which the ballerina dives to be caught by her partner, with her head and shoulders just clear of the floor. | added 4 years ago |
| navette cut | (noun) A cut of jewel in the shape of a pointed oval; a jewel cut in such a shape. | added 4 years ago |
