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Parablastic

Of or pertaining to the parablast; as, the parablastic cells.

Parabola

A kind of curve; one of the conic sections formed by the intersection of the surface of a cone with a plane parallel to one of its sides. It is a curve, any point of which is equally distant from a fixed point, called the focus, and a fixed straight line, called the directrix. See Focus. One of a group of curves defined by the equation y = axn where n is a positive whole number or a positive fraction. For the cubical parabola n = 3; for the semicubical parabola n = /. See under Cubical, and Semicubical. The parabolas have infinite branches, but no rectilineal asymptotes.

Parabolism

The division of the terms of an equation by a known quantity that is involved in the first term.

Paraboloid

The solid generated by the rotation of a parabola about its axis; any surface of the second order whose sections by planes parallel to a given line are parabolas.

Parabronchium

One of the branches of an ectobronchium or entobronchium.

Paracelsian

A follower of Paracelsus or his practice or teachings.

Paracelsus

Philippus Aureolus Paracelsus (originally Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, also called Theophrastus Paracelsus and Theophrastus von Hohenheim). Born at Maria-Einsiedeln, in the Canton of Schwyz, Switzerland, Dec. 17 (or 10 Nov.), 1493: died at Salzburg, Sept. 23 (or 24), 1541. A celebrated German-Swiss physician, reformer of therapeutics, iatrochemist, and alchemist. He attended school in a small lead-mining district where his father, William Bombast von Hohenheim, was a physician and teacher of alchemy. The family originally came from W/rtemberg, where the noble family of Bombastus was in possession of the ancestral castle of Hohenheim near Stuttgart until 1409. He entered the University of Basel at the age of sixteen, where he adopted the name Paracelsus, after Celsius, a noted Roman physician. But he left without a degree, first going to Wurtzburg to study under Joannes Trithemius, Abbot of Sponheim (1462-1516), a famous astrologer and alchemist, who initiated him into the mysteries of alchemy. He then spent many years in travel and intercourse with distinguished scholars, studied and practiced medicine and surgery, and at one point attended the Diet of Worms. He was appointed to the office of city physician of Basel, which also made him a lecturer on medicine at Basel about 1526, where, through the publisher Johan Frobenius he made friends with the scholar Erasmus; and there he fulminated against the medical pseudo-science of his day, and against the blind adherence to ancient medical authorities such as Hippocrates, Galen, and Avicenna, which was still the prevalent philosophy of medicine in the sixteenth century. But soon, in 1528, he was driven from the city by the medical corporations, whose methods he had severely criticized. He found refuge with friends, and traveled and practiced medicine, but could not find a publisher willing to print his books. He preached frequently the need for experimentation in medicine. He is important in the history of medicine chiefly on account of the impetus which he gave to the development of pharmaceutical chemistry. He was also the author of a visionary and theosophic system of philosophy. The first collective edition of his works appeared at Basel in 1589-91. Among the many legends concerning him is that concerning his long sword, which he obtained while serving as barber-surgeon during the Neapolitan wars. It was rumored that in the hilt of the sword he kept a familiar or small demon; some thought he carried the elixer of life in the sword. He is buried in the cemetary of the Hospital of St. Sebastian in Salzburg. For more detailed information about Paracelsus, there is a special project, the Zurich Paracelsus Project available on the Web.

Paracentesis

The perforation of a cavity of the body with a trocar, aspirator, or other suitable instrument, for the evacuation of effused fluid, pus, or gas; tapping.

Parachordal

Situated on either side of the notochord; -- applied especially to the cartilaginous rudiments of the skull on each side of the anterior part of the notochord. A parachordal cartilage.

Parachronism

An error in chronology, by which the date of an event is set later than the time of its occurrence.

parachute

TO descend to th ground from an airplane or other high place using a parachute; as, when the plane stalled, he parachuted safely to the ground.

parachuting

The act or process of descending from a high altitude to the ground by means of a parachute.

parachutist parachuter

One who descends from a high altitude to the ground by means of a parachute, especially one who does so for sport or in a military operation.

Paraclete

An advocate; one called to aid or support; hence, the Consoler, Comforter, or Intercessor; -- a term applied to the Holy Spirit.

Paracmastic

Gradually decreasing; past the acme, or crisis, as a distemper.

Paraconic

Pertaining to, or designating, an organic acid obtained as a deliquescent white crystalline substance, and isomeric with itaconic, citraconic, and mesaconic acids.

Paraconine

A base resembling and isomeric with conine, and obtained as a colorless liquid from butyric aldehyde and ammonia.

Paracorolla

A secondary or inner corolla; a corona, as of the Narcissus.

Paracrostic

A poetical composition, in which the first verse contains, in order, the first letters of all the verses of the poem.

Paracyanogen

A polymeric modification of cyanogen, obtained as a brown or black amorphous residue by heating mercuric cyanide.

Parade

To make an exhibition or spectacle of one's self, as by walking in a public place.

parader

One who walks with regular or stately step.

paradiddle

The sound of a drum (especially a snare drum) beaten rapidly and continuously.

Paradigmatic

A writer of memoirs of religious persons, as examples of Christian excellence.

Paradisaical Paradisaic

Of or pertaining to, or resembling, paradise; paradisiacal; as, paradisaical innocence; an age of paradisaical happiness.

Paradise

To affect or exalt with visions of felicity; to entrance; to bewitch.

Paradised

Placed in paradise; enjoying delights as of paradise.

parados

An intercepting mound, erected in any part of a fortification to protect the defenders from a rear or ricochet fire; a traverse.

paradox

A tenet or proposition contrary to received opinion; an assertion or sentiment seemingly contradictory, or opposed to common sense; that which in appearance or terms is absurd, but yet may be true in fact.

Paradoxides

A genus of large trilobites characteristic of the primordial formations.

paradoxism

An avant-garde movement in literature, art, and philosophy, based on excessive used of antitheses, antinomies, contradictions, oxymorons, and paradoxes.

Paradoxure

Any species of Paradoxurus, a genus of Asiatic viverrine mammals allied to the civet, as the musang, and the luwack or palm cat (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus). See Musang.

Paradoxy

A paradoxical statement; a paradox.

Paraffine Paraffin

A white waxy substance, resembling spermaceti, tasteless and odorless, and obtained from coal tar, wood tar, petroleum, etc., by distillation. It is used in candles, as a sealing agent (such as in canning of preserves), as a waterproofing agent, as an illuminant and as a lubricant. It is very inert, not being acted upon by most of the strong chemical reagents. It was formerly regarded as a definite compound, but is now known to be a complex mixture of several higher hydrocarbons of the methane or marsh-gas series; hence, by extension, any substance, whether solid, liquid, or gaseous, of the same chemical series; thus gasoline, coal gas and kerosene consist largely of paraffins.

paraformaldehyde

A polymer of formaldehyde obtained as a white crystalline substance by concentration of a formaldehyde solution. Formula (CH20)n. It dissolves in hot water with the release of formaldehyde, and is used as a disinfectant.

Parage

Equality of condition, blood, or dignity; also, equality in the partition of an inheritance.

Paragenesis

The science which treats of minerals with special reference to their origin.

Paragenic

Originating in the character of the germ, or at the first commencement of an individual; -- said of peculiarities of structure, character, etc.

Paraglobulin

A protein in blood serum, belonging to the group of globulins. See Fibrinoplastin.

Paraglossa

One of a pair of small appendages of the lingua or labium of certain insects. See Illust. under Hymenoptera.

Paragnathous

Having both mandibles of equal length, the tips meeting, as in certain birds.

Paragnathus

One of the two lobes which form the lower lip, or metastome, of Crustacea. One of the small, horny, toothlike jaws of certain annelids.

Paragoge

The addition of a letter or syllable to the end of a word, as withouten for without.

Paragogical Paragogic

Of, pertaining to, or constituting, a paragoge; added to the end of, or serving to lengthen, a word.

Paragon

To be equal; to hold comparison.

Paragonite

A kind of mica related to muscovite, but containing soda instead of potash. It is characteristic of the paragonite schist of the Alps.

Paragrandine

An instrument to avert the occurrence of hailstorms. See Paragr/le.

Paragraph

Originally, a marginal mark or note, set in the margin to call attention to something in the text, e. g., a change of subject; now, the character /, commonly used in the text as a reference mark to a footnote, or to indicate the place of a division into sections.

Paragrele

A lightning conductor erected, as in a vineyard, for drawing off the electricity in the atmosphere in order to prevent hailstorms.

Paraguayan

Of or pertaining to Paraguay. A native or inhabitant of Paraguay.

Parakeet Parrakeet

Any one of numerous species of small parrots having a graduated tail, which is frequently very long; -- called also paroquet and paraquet.

Parakite

A train or series of kites on one string and flying tandem, used for attaining great heights and for sending up instruments for meteorological observations or a man for military reconnaissance; also, a kite of such a train.

Paralactic

Designating an acid called paralactic acid. See Lactic acid, under Lactic.

Paralbumin

A proteidlike body found in the fluid from ovarian cysts and elsewhere. It is generally associated with a substance related to, if not identical with, glycogen.

Paraldehyde

A trimer of acetaldehyde (C6H12O3), prepared by polymerization of acetaldehyde with hydrochloric and sulfuric acids. It has sedative and hypnotic properties.

Paraleipsis

A pretended or apparent omission; a figure by which a speaker artfully pretends to pass by what he really mentions; as, for example, if an orator should say, /I do not speak of my adversary's scandalous venality and rapacity, his brutal conduct, his treachery and malice./

Paralgesia

Disordered sensibility to pain, including absence of sensibility to pain, excessive sensibility to pain, and abnormal painful results of stimuli.

Paralipomenon

A title given in the Douay Bible to the Books of Chronicles.

Parallax

The apparent displacement, or difference of position, of an object, as seen from two different stations, or points of view.

parallax second

An annual parallax of one second of an arc; -- applied to celestial objects outside the solar system. It is used to measure the distance of an astronomical object from the Earth. A star which has an annual parallax of one second of an arc is considered to be one parsec (3.26 light years) distant from the earth. See parsec in the vocabulary.

Parallel

To be parallel; to correspond; to be like.

parallel-park

To park (a vehicle) parallel to the curb; -- contrasted with angle-park; as, to get a driver's license, one needs to be able to parallel-park.

parallel-parking

The act or process of parking parallel to the curb; -- contrasted with angle-parking.

Parallelistic

Of the nature of a parallelism; involving parallelism.

Parallelogram

A right-lined quadrilateral figure, whose opposite sides are parallel, and consequently equal; -- sometimes restricted in popular usage to a rectangle, or quadrilateral figure which is longer than it is broad, and with right angles.

Parallelopiped

A solid, the faces of which are six parallelograms, the opposite pairs being parallel, and equal to each other; a prism whose base is a parallelogram.

Paralogism

A reasoning which is false in point of form, that is, which is contrary to logical rules or formul/; a formal fallacy, or pseudo-syllogism, in which the conclusion does not follow from the premises.

Paralogize

To reason falsely; to draw conclusions not warranted by the premises.

Paralysis

Abolition of function, whether complete or partial; esp., the loss of the power of voluntary motion, with or without that of sensation, in any part of the body; palsy. See Hemiplegia, and Paraplegia. Also used figuratively; as, paralysis of the will.

Paralyzation

The act or process of paralyzing, or the state of being paralyzed.

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