The Expanse Flashcards
Anneal
verb
1. heat (metal or glass) and allow it to cool slowly, in order to remove internal stresses and make it easier to work.
“copper tubes must be annealed after bending or they will be brittle”
BIOCHEMISTRY
2. recombine (DNA) in the double-stranded form.
Proselytize
verb
1. convert or attempt to convert (someone) from one religion, belief, or opinion to another.
“the programme did have a tremendous evangelical effect, proselytizing many”
2. advocate or promote (a belief or course of action).
“Davis wanted to share his concept and proselytize his ideas”
Gamut
noun
1. the complete range or scope of something.
“the whole gamut of human emotion”
MUSIC
2. a complete scale of musical notes; the range of a voice or instrument.
“the orchestral gamut”
HISTORICAL
3. a scale consisting of seven overlapping hexachords, containing all the recognized notes used in medieval music, covering almost three octaves from bass G to treble E.
Secession
noun
1. the action of withdrawing formally from membership of a federation or body, especially a political state.
“the republics want secession from the union”
HISTORICAL
2. the withdrawal of eleven southern states from the US Union in 1860, leading to the Civil War.
3. variant of Sezession.
Ablation
noun
1. the surgical removal of body tissue.
2. the removal of snow and ice from a glacier or iceberg by melting or evaporation.
the erosion of rock, typically by wind action.
3. the loss of surface material from a spacecraft or meteorite through evaporation or melting caused by friction with the atmosphere.
Anoxia
noun
TECHNICAL
1. an absence of oxygen.
MEDICINE
2. an absence or deficiency of oxygen reaching the tissues; severe hypoxia.
“death due to anoxia resulting from strangulation”
Prodigal
adjective
1. spending money or using resources freely and recklessly; wastefully extravagant.
“prodigal habits die hard”
2. having or giving something on a lavish scale.
“the dessert was prodigal with whipped cream”
noun
1. a person who spends money in a recklessly extravagant way.
“he hated rich prodigals who lived useless, imprudent lives”
2. a person who leaves home to lead a prodigal life but later makes a repentant return.
Ululate
verb
howl or wail as an expression of strong emotion, typically grief.
“women were ululating as the body was laid out”
Consolidation
noun
1. the action or process of making something stronger or more solid.
“the permanent consolidation of peace”
2. the action or process of combining a number of things into a single more effective or coherent whole.
“a consolidation of data within an enterprise”
3. the action or process of combining a number of financial accounts or funds into a single overall account or set of accounts.
“a business selling debt consolidation services”
Triplicate
adjective
existing in three copies or examples.
“triplicate measurements”
noun ARCHAIC
a thing which is part of a set of three copies or corresponding parts.
“the triplicate of the form shall be retained by the traveller”
verb
make three copies of; multiply by three.
“titles which have been sparingly ordered can be later duplicated or triplicated”
Palsy
noun
DATED
1. paralysis, especially that which is accompanied by involuntary tremors.
“a kind of palsy had seized him”
ARCHAIC
2. a condition of incapacity or helplessness.
“is the calmness of philosophy, or the palsy of insensibility, to be looked for?”
verb
affect with paralysis and involuntary tremors.
“she feels as if the muscles on her face are palsied”
Aft
adverb
at, near, or towards the stern of a ship or tail of an aircraft.
“Travis made his way aft”
adjective
situated at, near, or towards the stern of a ship or tail of an aircraft.
“the aft cargo compartment”
Ebullient
adjective
1. cheerful and full of energy.
“she sounded ebullient and happy”
ARCHAIC
2. (of liquid or matter) boiling or agitated as if boiling.
“misted and ebullient seas”
Affinity
noun
1. a natural liking for and understanding of someone or something.
“he had a special affinity with horses”
2. a similarity of characteristics suggesting a relationship, especially a resemblance in structure between animals, plants, or languages.
“a semantic affinity between two words”
3. relationship, especially by marriage as opposed to blood ties.
“the distinction between kinship and affinity is not always clear-cut”
BIOCHEMISTRY
4. the degree to which a substance tends to combine with another.
“the bacterial proteins bind to these molecules with high affinity”
Tertiary
adjective
1. third in order or level.
“the tertiary stage of the disease”
BRITISH
2. relating to or denoting education at a level beyond that provided by schools, especially that provided by a college or university.
3. relating to or denoting the medical treatment provided at a specialist institution.
“patients in tertiary care”
GEOLOGY
4. relating to or denoting the first period of the Cenozoic era, between the Cretaceous and Quaternary periods, and comprising the Palaeogene and Neogene sub-periods.
CHEMISTRY
5. (of an organic compound) having its functional group located on a carbon atom which is itself bonded to three other carbon atoms.
6. (chiefly of amines) derived from ammonia by replacement of three hydrogen atoms by organic groups.
ECOLOGY
7. denoting or relating to carnivores that eat other carnivores and omnivores.
“the tertiary consumers must hunt for their food”
noun
GEOLOGY
1. the Tertiary period or the system of rocks deposited during it.
2. a lay associate of certain Christian monastic organizations.
“a Franciscan tertiary”
Sclera
noun
the white layer of the eye that covers most of the outside of the eyeball.
Autophagy
noun BIOLOGY
1. consumption of the body’s own tissue as a metabolic process occurring in starvation and certain diseases.
“the process of starvation-induced autophagy was recently the focus of extensive research”
2. destruction of damaged or redundant cellular components occurring in vacuoles within the cell.
Slough
noun
1. a swamp.
NORTH AMERICAN
2. a side channel or inlet, or a natural channel that is only sporadically filled with water.
“Elkhorn Slough”
3. a situation characterized by lack of progress or activity.
“the economic slough of the interwar years”
4. the dropping off of dead tissue from living flesh.
“the drugs can cause blistering and slough”
verb
**1. shed or remove (a layer of dead skin).*
“a snake sloughs off its old skin”
2. get rid of (something undesirable or no longer required).
“he is concerned to slough off the country’s bad environmental image”
3. (of dead skin) drop off; be shed.
“it is a rare skin disease in which the skin sloughs off”
4. (of soil or rock) collapse or slide into a hole or depression.
“an eternal rain of silt sloughs down from the edges of the continents”
Cessation
noun
the fact or process of ending or being brought to an end.
“the cessation of hostilities”
Pogrom
noun
an organized massacre of a particular ethnic group, in particular that of Jewish people in Russia or eastern Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
“the pogroms of the 1880s drove many westwards to the USA”
Aggrandize
verb
1. increase the power, status, or wealth of.
“an action intended to aggrandize the Frankish dynasty”
2. enhance the reputation of (someone) beyond what is justified by the facts.
“he hoped to aggrandize himself by dying a hero’s death”
Flechette
noun
1. a type of ammunition resembling a needle, used in bombs, shells, and guns.
“doctors say they have pulled flechettes from dead and wounded fighters”
2. a shell containing flechettes.
“the flechette exploded and part of it penetrated the southern and western walls”
Fulcrum
noun
1. the point against which a lever is placed to get a purchase, or on which it turns or is supported.
2. a thing that plays a central or essential role in an activity, event, or situation.
“research is the fulcrum of the academic community”
Actinic
adjective TECHNICAL
(of light or lighting) able to cause photochemical reactions, as in photography, through having a significant short wavelength or ultraviolet component.
Easel
noun
a wooden frame for holding an artist’s work while it is being painted or drawn.
Intercession
noun
1. the action of intervening on behalf of another.
“he only escaped ruin by the intercession of his peers with the king”
2. the action of saying a prayer on behalf of another.
“prayers of intercession”
Patois
noun
1. the dialect of a particular region, especially one with low status in relation to the standard language of the country.
“the nurse talked to me in a patois that even Italians would have had difficulty in understanding”
2. the jargon or informal speech used by a particular social group.
“the raunchy patois of inner-city kids”
Staunch
adjective
1. very loyal and committed in attitude.
“a staunch supporter of the anti-nuclear lobby”
2. (of a wall) of strong or firm construction.
“these staunch walls could withstand attack by cannon”
ARCHAIC
3. (of a ship) watertight.
“powerful and stanch boats”
verb
1. stop or restrict (a flow of blood) from a wound.
“he staunched the blood with whatever came to hand”
2. stop the flow of blood from (a wound).
Dirge
noun
1. a lament for the dead, especially one forming part of a funeral rite.
2. a mournful song, piece of music, or sound.
“singers chanted dirges”
INFORMAL
3. a song or piece of music that is considered too slow, miserable, or boring.
“after his ten-minute dirge, the audience booed”
Yeoman
noun
HISTORICAL
1. a man holding and cultivating a small landed estate; a freeholder.
2. a person qualified for certain duties and rights, such as to serve on juries and vote for the knight of the shire, by virtue of possessing free land of an annual value of 40 shillings.
HISTORICAL
3. a servant in a royal or noble household, ranking between a sergeant and a groom or a squire and a page.
HISTORICAL
4. a member of the yeomanry force.
5. (in the Royal and other Commonwealth navies) a petty officer concerned with signalling.
6. a petty officer in the US navy performing clerical duties on board ship.
phrase
yeoman service — efficient or useful help in need.
“the minister has performed yeoman service for Mulroney”
Bacteriophage
noun BIOLOGY
a virus which parasitizes a bacterium by infecting it and reproducing inside it. Bacteriophages are much used in genetic research.
Presentiment
noun
an intuitive feeling about the future, especially one of foreboding.
“a presentiment of disaster”
Lipid
noun CHEMISTRY
any of a class of organic compounds that are fatty acids or their derivatives and are insoluble in water but soluble in organic solvents. They include many natural oils, waxes, and steroids.
Idiosyncrasy
noun
1. a mode of behaviour or way of thought peculiar to an individual.
“one of his little idiosyncrasies was always preferring to be in the car first”
2. a distinctive or peculiar feature or characteristic of a place or thing.
“the idiosyncrasies of the prison system”
MEDICINE
3. an abnormal physical reaction by an individual to a food or drug.
Agnostic
noun
a person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God.
adjective
1. relating to agnostics or agnosticism.
2. (in a non-religious context) having a doubtful or non-committal attitude towards something.
“until now I’ve been fairly agnostic about electoral reform”
COMPUTING
3. denoting or relating to hardware or software that is compatible with many types of platform or operating system.
“many common file formats (JPEG, MP3, etc.) are platform-agnostic”
Settee
noun BRITISH
a long upholstered seat for more than one person, typically with a back and arms.
Brook
noun
a small stream.
“the Lake District boasts lovely lakes and babbling brooks”
verb FORMAL
tolerate or allow (something, typically dissent or opposition).
“Jenny would brook no criticism of Matthew”
Colic
noun
severe pain in the abdomen caused by wind or obstruction in the intestines and suffered especially by babies.
Beatific
adjective
1. feeling or expressing blissful happiness.
“a beatific smile”
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY
2. imparting holy bliss.
Commissary
noun
1. a deputy or delegate.
NORTH AMERICAN
2. a restaurant or food store in a military base, prison, or other institution.
Reveille
noun
a signal sounded especially on a bugle or drum to wake personnel in the armed forces.
“reveille was at 0430 hours”
Anthracite
noun
1. coal of a hard variety that contains relatively pure carbon and burns with little flame and smoke.
2. a dark grey colour.
“a wide range of colours from anthracite to blush pink”
Putative
adjective
generally considered or reputed to be.
“the putative author of the book”
Sequitur
noun
the conclusion of an inference; consequence.
Sequitur
noun
the conclusion of an inference; consequence.
Expedite
verb
make (an action or process) happen sooner or be accomplished more quickly.
“he promised to expedite economic reforms”
Cetacean
noun
a marine mammal of the order Cetacea ; a whale, dolphin, or porpoise.
adjective
relating to or denoting cetaceans.
Ancillary
adjective
**1. providing necessary support to the primary activities or operation of an organization, system, etc.*
“ancillary staff”
2. in addition to something else, but not as important.
“paragraph 19 was merely ancillary to paragraph 16”
noun
1. a person whose work provides necessary support to the primary activities of an organization, system, etc.
“the employment of specialist teachers and ancillaries”
- something which functions in a supplementary or supporting role.
“undergraduate courses of three main subjects with related ancillaries”
Emollient
adjective
1. having the quality of softening or soothing the skin.
“a rich emollient shampoo”
2. attempting to avoid confrontation or anger; calming or conciliatory.
“the president’s emollient approach to differences”
noun
**a preparation that softens the skin.*
“always moisturize exposed skin with an effective emollient”
Speciation
noun BIOLOGY
the formation of new and distinct species in the course of evolution.
Fugue
noun
MUSIC
1. a contrapuntal composition in which a short melody or phrase (the subject) is introduced by one part and successively taken up by others and developed by interweaving the parts.
PSYCHIATRY
2. a loss of awareness of one’s identity, often coupled with flight from one’s usual environment, associated with certain forms of hysteria and epilepsy.
Furlough
noun
suspension or discharge of a worker or workers on account of economic conditions or shortage of work, especially when temporary.
“half of employers say they will put the majority of their staff on furlough”
leave of absence from a job, position, or period of military service.
“a civil servant home on furlough”
US
the temporary release of a convict from prison.
“inmates are allowed out on furlough”
verb
suspend or discharge (a worker) from a job, especially temporarily, on account of economic conditions or shortage of work.
“the company temporarily shuttered two plants and furloughed 8,100 workers”
grant (someone) leave of absence from a job, position, or period of military service.
US
temporarily release (a convict) from prison.
Peevish
adjective
having or showing an irritable disposition.
“a thin peevish voice”
Piton
noun
1. a peg or spike driven into a rock or crack to support a climber or a rope.
2. two conical mountains in St Lucia in the Caribbean. Reaching a height of 798 m (2,618 ft) and 750 m (2,461 ft), they rise up out of the sea just off the south-western coast of the island.
Smarmy
adjective INFORMAL
ingratiating and wheedling in a way that is regarded as insincere or excessive.
“a smarmy, unctuous reply”
Impound
verb
1. seize and take legal custody of (something, especially a vehicle, goods, or documents) because of an infringement of a law.
“vehicles parked where they cause an obstruction will be impounded”
2. shut up (domestic animals) in a pound or enclosure.
“the cattle were rounded up and impounded”
3. lock up (someone).
“almost forgotten were the poor unfortunates impounded in the prison”
4. (of a dam) hold back (water).
“it will impound a reservoir 130 miles long”
Parishioner
noun
an inhabitant of a particular church parish, especially one who is a regular churchgoer.
Indenture
noun
1. a legal agreement, contract, or document.
HISTORICAL
2. a deed or contract of which copies were made for the contracting parties with the edges indented for identification and to prevent forgery.
3. a formal list, certificate, or inventory.
“indentures recording the number of 1377 taxpayers”
4. an agreement binding an apprentice to a master.
“the 30 apprentices have received their indentures on completion of their training”
5. the state of being bound to service by an indenture.
“the bracelet on his wrist represented his indenture to his master”
HISTORICAL
6. a contract by which a person agreed to work for a set period for a landowner in a British colony in exchange for passage to the colony.
verb HISTORICAL
bind (someone) by an indenture as an apprentice or labourer.
“Dick was indentured to the Company in 1917”
Lozenge
noun
1. a rhombus or diamond shape.
“lozenge patterns”
2. a small medicinal tablet, originally in the shape of a lozenge, taken for sore throats and dissolved in the mouth.
“throat lozenges”
HERALDRY
3. a charge in the shape of a solid diamond, in particular one on which the arms of an unmarried or widowed woman are displayed.
Copacetic
adjective INFORMAL•NORTH AMERICAN
in excellent order.
“he said to tell you everything is copacetic”
Remediation
noun
1. the action of remedying something, in particular of reversing or stopping environmental damage.
2. the giving of remedial teaching or therapy.
Cowling
noun
the removable cover of a vehicle or aircraft engine.
Assay
noun
1. the testing of a metal or ore to determine its ingredients and quality.
“submission of plate for assay”
2. a procedure for measuring the biochemical or immunological activity of a sample.
“each assay was performed in duplicate”
verb
1. determine the content or quality of (a metal or ore).
“the man who assayed gold was more than a technician”
2. determine the biochemical or immunological activity of (a sample).
“cell contents were assayed for enzyme activity”
3. examine (something) in order to assess its nature.
“stepping inside, I quickly assayed the clientele”
ARCHAIC
4. attempt.
“I assayed a little joke of mine on him”
Latitude
noun
1. the angular distance of a place north or south of the earth’s equator, or of the equator of a celestial object, usually expressed in degrees and minutes.
“at a latitude of 51° N”
2. regions, especially with reference to their temperature and distance from the equator.
“temperate latitudes”
3. scope for freedom of action or thought.
“journalists have considerable latitude in criticizing public figures”
PHOTOGRAPHY
4. the range of exposures for which an emulsion or printing paper will give acceptable contrast.
“a film with a latitude which is outstanding”
Avuncular
adjective
1. kind and friendly towards a younger or less experienced person.
“he was avuncular, reassuring, and trustworthy”
ANTHROPOLOGY
2. relating to the relationship between men and the children of their siblings.
Paroxysm
noun
1. a sudden attack or outburst of a particular emotion or activity.
“a paroxysm of weeping”
MEDICINE
2. a sudden recurrence or attack of a disease.
“paroxysms of ataxia and shaking”
