Heterosis

Heterosis is a term used in genetics and selective breeding. The term heterosis, also known as hybrid vigor or outbreeding enhancement, describes the increased strength of different characteristics in hybrids; the possibility to obtain a genetically superior individual by combining the virtues of its parents.

Peijainen

In Finland, Peijainen is the ritual burial of a bear that has been communally brought down and has died. A bear was never "hunted"; it was merely brought down. A single man could claim to have hunted and killed a bear, but in a community effort, the bear simply died.

Fulminate

Fulminates are chemical compounds which include the fulminate ion. The fulminate ion, CNO⁻ is a pseudohalic ion, acting like a halogen with its charge and reactivity. Due to the instability of the ion, fulminate salts are friction-sensitive explosives. The best known is mercury fulminate, which has been used as a primary explosive in detonators. Fulminates can be formed from metals, such as silver and mercury, dissolved in nitric acid and reacted with ethanol. It is largely the presence of the weak single nitrogen-oxygen bond which leads to its instability. Nitrogen very easily forms a stable triple bond to another nitrogen atom, forming gaseous nitrogen.

gormless

gormless

1. (chiefly British, of a person) Lacking intelligence, sense or discernment, often implying lack of capacity of will to remedy the condition.
2. (British) Inexperienced, naïve, innocent to the point of foolishness.

feckless

feckless

Lacking purpose.

Image ""Tae a Haggis" by SeaDave.

Rodenticide

Rodenticides are a category of pest control chemicals intended to kill rodents.

Single feed baits are chemicals sufficiently dangerous that the first dose is sufficient to kill.

Rodents are difficult to kill with poisons because their feeding habits reflect their place as scavengers. They will eat a small bit of something and wait, and if they don't get sick, they continue. An effective rodenticide must be tasteless and odorless in lethal concentrations, and have a delayed effect.

K-Kill

A Catastrophic kill, K-Kill or complete kill refers to damage inflicted on a vehicle by a weapon that renders it both unusable and unrepairable. Typically a catastrophic kill results in the ignition of any fuel the vehicle may be carrying as well as the detonation of its ammunition resulting in an explosion. A catastrophic kill does not preclude the survival of the vehicle's crew, for example the crew of an aircraft might bail out or eject.

Tasman

Tasman is the name of a layout engine developed by Microsoft, introduced with the Macintosh version of Internet Explorer 5, a new feature in the development of Internet Explorer for Mac (IE mac versions extended back to IE 2). Tasman was an attempt to improve support for web standards, as defined by the World Wide Web Consortium. At the time of its release, Tasman was seen as the layout engine with the best support for web standards such as HTML and CSS. Internet Explorer for Mac is no longer supported, but newer versions of Tasman are incorporated in some other current Microsoft products.

Reactivity

Reactivity refers to the rate at which a chemical substance tends to undergo a chemical reaction in time. In pure compounds, reactivity is regulated by the physical properties of the sample. For instance, grinding a sample to a higher specific surface area increases its reactivity. In impure compounds, the reactivity is also affected by the inclusion of contaminants. In crystalline compounds, the crystalline form can also affect reactivity. However in all cases, reactivity is primarily due to the sub-atomic properties of the compound.

Ornithology

Ornithology (from Greek: ὄρνις, ὄρνιθος, ornis, ornithos, "bird"; and λόγος, logos, "knowledge") is a branch of zoology that concerns the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and the aesthetic appeal of birds. Most marked among these is the extent of studies undertaken by amateurs working within the parameters of strict scientific methodology.

Urðarbrunnr

Urðarbrunnr (Old Norse "Well of Urðr"; either referring to a Germanic concept of fate—urðr—or the norn named Urðr) is a well in Norse mythology. Urðarbrunnr is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. In both sources, the well lies beneath the world tree Yggdrasil, and is associated with a trio of norns (Urðr, Verðandi, and Skuld). In the Prose Edda, Urðarbrunnr is cited as one of three wells existing beneath three roots of Yggdrasil that reach into three distant, different lands; the other two wells being Hvergelmir, located beneath a root in Niflheim, and Mímisbrunnr, located beneath a root near the home of the frost jötnar. Scholarly theory and speculation surrounds the well.

Beausage

Beausage

Beauty through usage

cupola

In architecture, a cupola is a small, most-often dome-like structure, on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, from the lower Latin cupula (classical Latincupella from the Greek kypellon) small cup (lat. cupa) indicating a vault resembling an upside down cup. Cupolas often appear as small buildings in their own right. They often serve as a belfry, lantern, or belvedere above a main roof. In other cases they may crown a tower, spire, or turret. The chhatri, seen in Indian architecture, fits the definition of a cupola when it is used atop a larger structure.

mytacism

mytacism

1. excessive or incorrect use of the letter M
2. replacing consonants with an m-sound in speech

Knurling

Knurling is a manufacturing process, typically conducted on a lathe, whereby a visually-attractive diamond-shaped (criss-cross) pattern is cut or rolled into metal. This pattern allows hands or fingers to get a better grip on the knurled object than would be provided by the originally-smooth metal surface. Occasionally, the knurled pattern is a series of straight ridges or a helix of "straight" ridges rather than the more-usual criss-cross pattern.

persimmon

A persimmon, known to the ancient Greeks as "the fruit of the gods" is the edible fruit of a number of species of trees of the genus Diospyros in the ebony wood family (Ebenaceae). The word persimmon is derived from putchamin, pasiminan, or pessamin, from Powhatan, an Algonquian language (related to Blackfoot, Cree and Mohican) of the eastern United States, meaning "a dry fruit". Persimmons are generally light yellow-orange to dark red-orange in color, and depending on the species, vary in size from 1.5-9 cm (0.5-4 in) diameter, and may be spherical, acorn-, or pumpkin-shaped.

mathemumorist

not also a mathematician but also a humorist.

affogato

An affogato (Italian for "drowned") is a coffee-based beverage or dessert. "Affogato style", which refers to the act of topping a drink or dessert with espresso, may also incorporate caramel sauce or chocolate sauce.

botheration

The act of bothering or the state of being bothered.

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recognizance

In British, Canadian and American law, the term recognizance is usually employed to describe an obligation of record, entered into before some court or magistrate duly authorized, whereby the party bound acknowledges (recognizes) that s/he owes a personal debt to the government or Crown, with a defeasance, i.e. subject to a condition that the obligation to pay shall be avoided if he shall do some particular act, as if s/he shall appear at the assizes, keep the peace, or the like.

Recognizance is most often encountered regarding bail in criminal cases. By filing a bail bond with the court, the defendants will usually be released from imprisonment pending a trial or appeal. If no bail has been set, the defendants are released "on their own recognizance." Release on recognizance is sometimes called RoR, or, particularly in the United States, OR.

Gauleiter

A Gauleiter was the party leader of a regional branch of the NSDAP (more commonly known as the Nazi Party) or the head of a Gau or of a Reichsgau. The German word Leiter means leader, whilst Gau was an old word for a region of the Reich, once ruled by a Frankish Gaugraf; it translates most closely to the English shire. Gau was one of the many archaic words from medieval German history that the Nazis revived for their own purposes.

Metrication

Metrication refers to the introduction of the SI metric system as the international standard for physical measurements—a long-term series of independent and systematic conversions from the various separate local systems of weights and measures. Metrication began in France in the 1790s and spread widely during the following two centuries.

Panchayat

The Panchayat is a South Asian political system mainly in India, Pakistan, and Nepal. "Panchayat" literally means assembly (yat) of five (panch) wise and respected elders chosen and accepted by the village community. Traditionally, these assemblies settled disputes between individuals and villages. Modern Indian government has decentralised several administrative functions to the village level, empowering elected gram panchayats. Gram panchayats are not to be confused with the unelected khap panchayats (or caste panchayats) found in some parts of India.

Muti

Muti is a term for traditional medicine in Southern Africa as far north as Lake Tanganyika. The word muti is derived from the Zulu, Shona word for tree, of which the root is -thi. African Traditional medicine makes use of various natural products, many of which are derived from trees. For this reason, medicine generally is known as muti, but it is also applied to formulations used in traditional medical dispensing. In Southern Africa, the word muti is in widespread use in most indigenous African languages, as well as in South African English and Afrikaans where it is sometimes used as a slang word for medicine in general.

seiyū

A seiyū (声優) is a Japanese voice actor that works in radio, television, or movies. Seiyū perform voice-overs for non-Japanese movies, provide narration, and also work as anime and video game character actors. The term "seiyū" is conventionally used among English-speaking fans to denote the Japanese actor and "vocal actor" or "voice actor" when referring to a character actor in a series translated into English. Magazines focusing specifically on seiyū are published in Japan, with Voice Animage being the most well known and longest running.

bridle

A bridle is a piece of equipment used to direct a horse. As defined in the Oxford English Dictionary, the "bridle" includes both the headstall that holds a bit that goes in the mouth of a horse, and the reins that are attached to the bit.

Cryptomnesia

Cryptomnesia, or inadvertent plagiarism, is a memory bias whereby a person falsely recalls generating a thought, an idea, a song, or a joke, when the thought was actually generated by someone else. In these cases, the person is not deliberately engaging in plagiarism, but is rather experiencing a memory as if it were a new inspiration.

memoirist

one who writes memoirs.

Nadar

Nadar (Tamil: நாடார்) "Nadar" (also referred as Kshatriya Nadar, Nadan, Nataar, Gramani and Shanar) is one of the prominent castes of Tamil Nadu, South India.

tomography

Tomography is imaging by sections or sectioning, through the use of wave of energy.^[1] A device used in tomography is called a tomograph, while the image produced is a tomogram. The method is used in medicine, archaeology, biology, geophysics, oceanography, materials science, astrophysics and other sciences. In most cases it is based on the mathematical procedure called tomographic reconstruction. The word was derived from the Greek word tomos which means "a section", "a slice" or "a cutting". A tomography of several sections of the body is known as a polytomography.

dither

dither: To be uncertain or unable to make a decision about doing something.