Definition

Zenana: Definition

BY Author Susan Agliata | Posted on | FILED UNDER Categories Definition, Zenana

Zenana (n.):

Zenana (Persian/Urdu: , Hindi) refers to the part of a house in South Asian countries such as India and Pakistan reserved for the women of the household. The Zenana is the apartments of an Eastern house in which the women of the family are secluded. This is an Islamic custom, which has been introduced into India and has spread amongst the Hindus.

Zenana (n.): The part of a house in Asian countries such as India and Pakistan reserved for the women of the household.

[Hindi zenana, from Persian, from zan, woman; Indo-European roots.]

Segment producer: Barbara Hammer

Yashmak: Definition

BY Author Susan Agliata | Posted on | FILED UNDER Categories Definition, Yashmak

Yashmak (n.):
Yashmak, yashmac or yasmak (from Turkish ya?mak, literally “to cover, hide”) is a Turkish type of veil or niqab worn by many Muslim women to cover their faces in public.

Unlike an ordinary veil, yashmak contains a head-veil and a face-veil in one, thus consisting of two pieces of fine muslin, one tied across the face under the nose and the other tied across the forehead draping the head.

Yashmak can also contain a piece of black horsehair attached close to the temples and sloping down like an awning to cover the face, or it can be a veil covered with pieces of lace, having slits for the eyes, tied behind the head by strings and sometimes supported over the nose by a small piece of gold.

Segment Producer: Lynne Sachs

Xenogenesis: Definition

BY Author Susan Agliata | Posted on | FILED UNDER Categories Definition, Xenogenesis

Xenogenesis (n.):

  1. The supposed production of offspring markedly different from either parent.
  2. See alternation of generations.
  • The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. More from Dictionary.

Xenogenesis (n.): the alternation of two or more different forms in the life cycle of a plant or animal.

  • WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. More from WordNet.

Umbel: Definition

BY Author Susan Agliata | Posted on | FILED UNDER Categories Definition, Umbel

Umbel: (Science: plant biology) A racemose inflorescence in which all the individual flower stalks arise in a cluster at the top of the peduncle and are of about equal length.

  • Definition from 2007 © Biology-Online.org.

Umbel (n.): A flat-topped or rounded flower cluster in which the individual flower stalks arise from about the same point, as in the geranium, milkweed, onion, and chive.

[New Latin umbella, from Latin, parasol, diminutive of umbra, shadow.

  • Definition from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Examples of Umbel: Geranium, Milkweed, Onion, Chive, Carrot, Parsley, Dill.

Typhlology: Definition

BY Author Susan Agliata | Posted on | FILED UNDER Categories Definition, Typhlology

Typhlology (n.): Study of blindness.

* Definition from the Hutchinson Encyclopaedia ©. Helicon Publishing LTD 2007. All rights reserved.

Typhlology (n.): An obsolete term for the branch of science concerned with the causes and prevention of blindness, and the rehabilitation of those afflicted.

* Definition from the On-line Medical Dictionary, published at the Dept. of Medical Oncology, University of Newcastle upon Tyne. © Copyright 1997-2005 – The CancerWEB Project. All Rights Reserved.

Segment producer: Ethan Mass

Rete: Definition

BY Author Susan Agliata | Posted on | FILED UNDER Categories Definition, Rete
Rete (n.): An anatomical mesh or network, as of veins, arteries, or nerves.

[Latin rete, net.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved,

Producer: Susan Agliata

Pelagic: Definition

BY Author Susan Agliata | Posted on | FILED UNDER Categories Definition, Pelagic

Pelagic (adj.): Of, relating to, or living in open oceans or seas rather than waters adjacent to land or inland waters: pelagic birds.

[Latin pelagicus, from Greek pelagikos, from pelagos, sea; Indo-European roots.]

* Definition from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Producer: George Kuchar

Mofette: Definition

BY Author Susan Agliata | Posted on | FILED UNDER Categories Definition, Mofette

Mofette (n.):

  1. An opening in the earth from which carbon dioxide and other gases escape, usually marking the last stage of volcanic activity.
  2. The gases escaping from such an opening.

[French, gaseous exhalation, from Italian moffetta, diminutive of muffa, mold, moldy smell, probably of Germanic origin.]

* Definition from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Segment Producer: Beth Botshon