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catch crop

(Encyclopedia)catch crop, any quick-growing crop sown between seasons of regular planting to make use of temporary idleness of the soil or to compensate for the failure of a main crop. It may be such rapid-maturing...

cautery

(Encyclopedia)cautery, searing or destruction of living animal tissue by use of heat or caustic chemicals. In the past, cauterization of open wounds, even those following amputation of a limb, was performed with ho...

Saint Elmo's fire

(Encyclopedia)Saint Elmo's fire, luminous discharge of electricity extending into the atmosphere from some projecting or elevated object. It is usually observed (often during a snowstorm or a dust storm) as brushli...

tularemia

(Encyclopedia)tularemia to͞olərēˈmēə [key] or rabbit fever, acute, infectious disease caused by Francisella tularensis (Pasteurella tularensis). The greatest incidence is among people who handle infected wild...

emetic

(Encyclopedia)emetic əmĕtˈĭk [key], substance that produces vomiting. Direct, or gastric, emetics, which act directly on the stomach, include syrup of ipecac, sulfate of zinc or copper, alum, ammonium carbonate...

hand sanitizer

(Encyclopedia)hand sanitizer or hand rub, substance used to clean and sanitize the hands, especially when soap is not available. Hand sanitizers, introduced commercially in the late 1980s, are available as liquids,...

water glass

(Encyclopedia)water glass or soluble glass, colorless, transparent, glasslike substance available commercially as a powder or as a transparent, viscous solution in water. Chemically it is sodium silicate, potassium...

felt

(Encyclopedia)felt, fabric made by matting or felting together wool, hair, or fur, most of which have a natural tendency to snarl or cling together owing to their notched or scaly surfaces. Processes of manufacture...

flotsam, jetsam, and ligan

(Encyclopedia)flotsam, jetsam, and ligan flŏtˈsəm, jĕtˈsəm, līˈgən [key] [O.Fr.], in maritime law, goods lost at sea as distinguished from goods washed ashore (wreck). Goods that remain floating on the sur...

hernia

(Encyclopedia)hernia, protrusion of an internal organ or part of an organ through the wall of a body cavity. The hernia is enclosed by a sac formed by the lining of the cavity. It results from a weakness or rupture...