Saturday, May 16, 2009

Annunciation


In Christianity, the Annunciation (Ευαγγελισμός της Θεοτόκου, Euangelismós tēs Theotókou in Greek) is the revelation to Mary, the mother of Jesus, by the angel Gabriel that she would conceive a child to be born the Son of God. Some Christian churches celebrate this with the Feast of Annunciation on March 25, which as the Incarnation is nine months before the feast of the Nativity of Jesus, or Christmas. The date of the Annunciation also marked the New Year in many places, including England (where it is called Lady Day). Both the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox faiths hold that the Annunciation took place in the desert of Nazareth, but differ as to where exactly. The Catholic Church of the Annunciation marks the site preferred by the former, while the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation marks that of the latter.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

pleonasm

pleonasm: the use of more words than those necessary to denote mere sense

Monday, May 11, 2009

Philtrum


The philtrum (Greek philtron (φιλτρον), from philein (φιλειν), "to love; to kiss"), also known as the infranasal depression is the vertical groove in the upper lip, formed where the nasomedial and maxillary processes meet during embryonic development.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Mong

mong: Adj. Lacking in physical and cerebal ability. General retardation.

Friday, May 8, 2009

Hellmouth


Hellmouth is the entrance to Hell envisaged as the gaping mouth of a huge monster, an image which first appears in Anglo-Saxon art, and then spread all over Europe, remaining very common in depictions of the Last Judgement and Harrowing of Hell until the end of the Middle Ages, and still sometimes used during the Renaissance and after. It enjoyed something of a revival in polemical popular prints after the Protestant Reformation, when figures from the opposite side would be shown disappearing into the mouth. A notable late appearance is in the two versions of a painting by El Greco of about 1578. Political cartoons still showed Napoleon leading his troops into one.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Divan

Divan: "A divan is a type of couch-like sitting furniture.

Originally, in the Orient (especially the Ottoman Empire), a divan was a long seat formed of a mattress laid against the side of the room, upon the floor, or upon a raised structure or frame, with cushions to lean against."

Sunday, May 3, 2009

photomagnetic

photomagnetic: of, or relating to the effect of light on the magnetic susceptibility of some materials, especially to the paramagnetism exhibited by some phosphorescent materials

lordosis

  Lordosis is historically defined as an abnormal inward curvature of the lumbar spine.