Biology Slang, Jargon, and New Words from Double-Tongued Dictionary

Biology, including plants, animals, and the study of them. You can also see entries assigned to this category.

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shagrat n. In their vision, humans become extinct in an Ice Age 5 million years from now. “Shagrats,” or giant rodents, and “gannet whales,” large aquatic birds, have evolved during this stretch of time. [English Animals, Insects, & Birds Biology] [full cite] (May. 4, 2005)

shmoo n. Yeast cells don’t have casual sex. Preparations are involved. In particular, the cell must reshape itself, becoming elongated like a microscopic pear. Scientists have a name for a cell in such a state: “shmoo.” The word was coined in 1974 and inspired by the pear-shaped character, the Shmoo, in Al Capp’s comic strip, “Lil Abner.” [English Biology] [full cite] (Dec. 27, 2007)

shotgun sequence v. phr. In 2004, Banfield collaborated with the Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute to shotgun sequence a drop of the slime. This type of sequencing involves homogenizing the organisms in the sample, isolating the combined DNA and breaking it into lots of random strands. Each strand is then sequenced, and a powerful computer is used to find overlaps so that the pieces can be properly reordered. [English Biology Science Jargon] [full cite] (Dec. 26, 2006)

snagging n. Other wintertime athletes, however, are devoted to another form of nose maintenance known variously as the farmer blow, the snot rocket or snagging. Here’s how: Press your finger on one side of the nose, blocking off a nostril, and blow forcefully out the other nostril. Repeat on the opposite side. Done correctly, you expel viscous booger wads harmlessly into the air and out onto the trail. [English Biology Body Slang] [full cite] (Dec. 4, 2006)

snip n. The tools made by Santa Clara-based Affymetrix and San Diego-based Illumina identify markers that show which variant of a gene is present in an individual. These markers are called single nucleotide polymorphisms, or “snips.” [English Biology Science Abbreviation] [full cite] (Jul. 20, 2007)

snot rocket n. Other wintertime athletes, however, are devoted to another form of nose maintenance known variously as the farmer blow, the snot rocket or snagging. Here’s how: Press your finger on one side of the nose, blocking off a nostril, and blow forcefully out the other nostril. Repeat on the opposite side. Done correctly, you expel viscous booger wads harmlessly into the air and out onto the trail. [English Biology Body Slang] [full cite] (Dec. 4, 2006)

spermarche n. In boys, LH stimulates testosterone production by the Leydig cells and, after spermarche, FSH supports the maturation of spermatozoa. [English Biology Body Sex & Sexuality] [full cite] (Jul. 26, 2007)

spermarche n. For e.g. a boy is capable of fatherhood from the time he achieves spermarche i.e. nocturnal emissions. [English Biology Body Sex & Sexuality] [full cite] (Jul. 26, 2007)

spermarche n. For this milestone in male maturation I suggest one of two terms: we might call it primus ejactulatus from the Latin or spermarche from the Greek. I prefer the latter, which means “the beginning of sperm.” [English Biology Body Sex & Sexuality] [full cite] (Jul. 26, 2007)

squibbon n. “Squibbons,” a hybrid squid-gibbon ape, live in trees, eat plants as well as flish and “represent the pinnacle of intelligent life on Earth,” according to Dixon and Adams’ vision. [English Animals, Insects, & Birds Biology] [full cite] (May. 4, 2005)

(9/10 pages) « First < 7 8 9 10 >