In biology, a rachis /ˈreɪkɪs/ (from the Ancient Greek: ῥάχις [rhákhis], "backbone, spine") is a main axis or "shaft".
In vertebrates, rachis can refer to the series of articulated vertebrae, which encase the spinal cord. In this case the rachis usually forms the supporting axis of the body and is then called the spine or vertebral column. Rachis can also mean the central shaft of pennaceous feathers.
sedulous adj
A kangaroo word is a word that contains all the letters of one of its synonyms, called a joey word, arranged so that these letters appear in the same order in both words. For example, the word action is a kangaroo word containing the joey word act; the words in[flammable] and [malign]ant also each include their own synonyms. In the kangaroo word, the letters of the joey word may also be separated, as in [ma]scu[l]in[e], which contains the letters of male scattered throughout.
occasive (not comparable)
A retronym is a newer name for an existing thing that helps differentiate the original form from a more recent one. It is thus a word or phrase created to avoid confusion between older and newer types, whereas previously (before there were more than one type) no clarification was required.
Advances in technology are often responsible for the coinage of retronyms. For example, the term acoustic guitar was coined with the advent of electric guitars; analog watches were renamed to distinguish them from digital watches once the latter were invented; and "push bike" was created to distinguish from motorbikes and motorized bicycles; finally "feature phone" was also coined behind smartphones.
The global war of the early 20th Century from 1914 to 1918 was referred to at the time as the "Great War". However, after World War II (also known as the Second World War) erupted in 1939, the Great War was gradually more commonly referred to instead as World War I or the First World War.
The first bicycles with two wheels of equal size were called "safety bicycles" because they were easier to handle than the then-dominant style that had one large wheel and one small wheel, which then became known as an "ordinary" bicycle.
inapposite (comparative more inapposite, superlative most inapposite)
inappropriate, not suitable for the situation
Weasand, a term for the oesophagus, obsolete as regards human anatomy, but current in the meatpacking industry
Mand is a term that B.F. Skinner used to describe a verbal operant in which the response is reinforced by a characteristic consequence and is therefore under the functional control of relevant conditions of deprivation or aversive stimulation. One cannot determine, based on form alone, whether a response is a mand; it is necessary to know the kinds of variables controlling a response in order to identify a verbal operant. A mand is sometimes said to "specify its reinforcement" although this is not always the case. Skinner introduced the mand as one of six primary verbal operants in his 1957 work, Verbal Behavior.
Chapter three of Skinner's work, Verbal Behavior, discusses a functional relationship called the mand. A mand is a form of verbal behavior that is controlled by deprivation, satiation, or what is now called motivating operations (MO), as well as a controlling history. An example of this would be asking for water when one is water deprived ("thirsty"). It is tempting to say that a mand describes its reinforcer, which it sometimes does. But many mands have no correspondence to the reinforcer. For example, a loud knock may be a mand "open the door" and a servant may be called by a hand clap as much as a child might "ask for milk."
housecarl, also spelled huscarl, Old Norse húskarl (“house man”), Danish and Norwegian hird (“household,” or “household member”), member of the personal or household troops or bodyguard of Scandinavian kings and chieftains in the Viking and medieval periods. The housecarls achieved a celebrated place in European history as the Danish occupation force in England under Canute the Great in 1015–35.
perissology (countable and uncountable, plural perissologies)
Warren G. Harding, the 29th president of the United States, was notably verbose even for his era.
From perrīdiculus (“very ridiculous”).
perrīdiculē (comparative perrīdiculius, superlative perrīdiculissimē)
Circumambulation (from Latin circum around and ambulātus to walk) is the act of moving around a sacred object or idol.
Circumambulation of temples or deity images is an integral part of Hindu and Buddhist devotional practice (known in Sanskrit as pradakśiṇā). It is also present in other religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.
n chemistry, a carbide usually describes a compound composed of carbon and a metal. In metallurgy, carbiding or carburizing is the process for producing carbide coatings on a metal piece.
supple (comparative suppler, superlative supplest)
contumacious (comparative more contumacious, superlative most contumacious)
