World Book 1997 4.0

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ World Book 1997 4.0 / The World Book Multimedia Encyclopedia v4.00.iso / data / dictdata / reach.dic < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1997-04-11 | 10.5 KB | 138 lines

<HTML> <HEAD><TITLE>DICTIONARY: reach - reactivate</TITLE></HEAD> <BODY BGCOLOR="#ffffff"> <A HREF="a.dic">A</A> <A HREF="b.dic">B</A> <A HREF="c.dic">C</A> <A HREF="d.dic">D</A> <A HREF="e.dic">E</A> <A HREF="f.dic">F</A> <A HREF="g.dic">G</A> <A HREF="h.dic">H</A> <A HREF="i.dic">I</A> <A HREF="j.dic">J</A> <A HREF="k.dic">K</A> <A HREF="l.dic">L</A> <A HREF="m.dic">M</A> <A HREF="n.dic">N</A> <A HREF="o.dic">O</A> <A HREF="p.dic">P</A> <A HREF="q.dic">Q</A> <A HREF="r.dic">R</A> <A HREF="s.dic">S</A> <A HREF="t.dic">T</A> <A HREF="u.dic">U</A> <A HREF="v.dic">V</A> <A HREF="w.dic">W</A> <A HREF="x.dic">X</A> <A HREF="y.dic">Y</A> <A HREF="z.dic">Z</A> <A NAME="reach"> reach, verb, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD>v.t. 1. to get to; arrive at; come to. Ex. to reach the top of a hill, to reach the end of a book, to reach an agreement. Your letter reached me yesterday. (SYN) attain, gain. <DD> 2. to stretch out; hold out; extend. Ex. to reach one's foot out. A tree reaches out its branches. <DD> 3a. to extend to. Ex. The radio reaches millions. <DD> b. to get in touch with (someone). Ex. I could not reach you by telephone. <DD> 4. to touch; get in touch with, as by anything extended or cast. Ex. I cannot reach the top of the wall. The anchor reached bottom. <DD> 5. to move to touch or seize (something); try to get. Ex. to reach a package on a high shelf. <DD> 6. (Figurative.) to get at; influence. Ex. Some people are reached by flattery. The speaker reached the hearts of his hearers. <DD> 7. to take and pass with the hand. Ex. Please reach me the newspaper. <DD> 8. (Figurative.) to amount to; be equal to. Ex. The cost of the war reached billions. <DD>v.i. 1. to stretch. Ex. to reach toward a book. A hand reached from the dark and seized him. <DD> 2. to extend, as in space, time, or influence. Ex. a dress reaching to the floor. The United States reaches from ocean to ocean. (Figurative.) The power of Rome reached to the ends of the known world. <DD> 3. to get or come; function; carry. Ex. farther than the eye can reach. <DD> 4. to make a stretch in a certain direction; move as if to touch or seize something. Ex. The man reached for his gun. <DD> 5. to make a stretch of certain length with the hand, etc.. Ex. I cannot reach to the top of the wall. <DD> 6. (Figurative.) to amount (to). Ex. amounts reaching to a considerable sum. <DD> 7. to succeed in coming, as to a place, point, or person. Ex. They could not reach back to the boat before it was dark (Daniel Defoe). <DD> 8. to sail on a course with the wind forward of the beam. <DD>noun 1. the act of stretching out; reaching. Ex. By a long reach, the drowning man grasped the rope. <DD> 2. the extent or distance of reaching. Ex. out of one's reach. Food and water were left within reach of the sick dog. <DD> 3. (Figurative.) range; power; capacity. Ex. the reach of the mind. Philosophy is not beyond a child's reach; he can understand it. <DD> 4. a continuous stretch or extent. Ex. vast reaches of snow in the Antarctic, a reach of woodland. <DD> 5. the course or distance sailed on one tack. <DD> 6. the part of a river, channel, or lake between bends. <DD> 7. the part of a canal between locks. <DD> 8. a pole from the rear axle of a wagon or carriage to the bar above the front axle. noun reacher. </DL> <A NAME="reachable"> reachable, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> that can be reached; within reach. Ex. a reachable goal. (SYN) accessible, attainable. </DL> <A NAME="reachless"> reachless, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> beyond reach; unattainable; lofty. Ex. the reachless height of an eagle nest. </DL> <A NAME="reachmedown"> reach-me-down, noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (British Informal.) hand-me-down. </DL> <A NAME="reacquire"> reacquire, transitive verb, -quired, -quiring.<DL COMPACT><DD> to acquire anew. </DL> <A NAME="react"> react, intransitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> 1. to act back; have an effect on the one that is acting. Ex. Unkindness often reacts on the unkind person and makes him unhappy. <DD> 2a. to act in response. Ex. Dogs react to kindness by showing affection. <DD> b. to respond in some manner; have an opinion of some proposal. Ex. How did he react to the idea when you told him? Plants react to light. <DD> 3. to act chemically. Acids react on metals. <DD> 4. to return, as to a previous state or level. <DD>v.t. to cause (a substance) to form a chemical reaction. Ex. One way to make formaldehyde is to react methane with hydroxyl (Science News). expr. react against, to act unfavorably toward or take an unfavorable attitude toward; act in opposition to (some force). Ex. to react against oppression. Some individuals react against fads. </DL> <A NAME="react"> re-act, transitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> to act over again. Ex. to re-act a scene from a play. </DL> <A NAME="reactance"> reactance, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Electricity.) that part, expressed in ohms, of the impedance of an alternating-current circuit which is due to inductance and capacitance, rather than resistance. Ex. amplifiers ... for microwave amplification by variable reactance (Wall Street Journal). </DL> <A NAME="reactant"> reactant, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Chemistry.) an element or compound that enters into a chemical reaction. Ex. The influence of the concentrations of the reactants on the rates of chemical reactions was discovered very early in the development of chemical kinetics (K. D. Wadsworth). </DL> <A NAME="reaction"> reaction, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> 1a. an action in response to some influence or force. Ex. Our reaction to a joke is to laugh. The doctor observed carefully his patient's reactions to the tests. <DD> b. the response of the body to a test for immunization or the like. Ex. A more general distinction depends on the extent of reaction shown by antiserum prepared against one strain of the virus (A. W. Haslett). <DD> c. the response of a nerve, muscle, or organ to a stimulus. Ex. They were designed to elucidate the reaction of the human body to the various stresses (E. F. Roots). <DD> d. (Informal.) a response, such as to an idea or plan; attitude; feeling; opinion. Ex. What was his reaction to the plan? <DD> 2. an action in the opposite direction. Ex. Fever is a common reaction from a chill. <DD> 3a. a chemical action of two substances on each other which results in the formation of one or more additional substances. The reaction between nitrogen and hydrogen produces ammonia. Ex. Putting an acid and a metal together causes a reaction. <DD> b. the change resulting from such chemical action. Ex. ... whether reaction occurs may depend on the timing of internal vibration of each of the molecules (K. D. Wadsworth). <DD> 4. a process in which the nucleus of an atom becomes transformed, as in the disintegration of radioactive substances; nuclear reaction. Ex. Reactions of the general type in which one of the two deuteron particles enters the hit nucleus and the other continues on its way (A. W. Haslett). <DD> 5. a political tendency toward a previous, usually more conservative, state of affairs. <DD> 6. a drop in prices following a rise in prices, as on a stock market. <DD> 7. an equal and opposite force which a body exerts against a force that acts upon it. Ex. ... in no case is it of importance which of the equal and opposite forces is considered the action and which the reaction (Shortley and Williams). adj. reactionless. </DL> <A NAME="reactional"> reactional, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with reaction. adv. reactionally. </DL> <A NAME="reactionary"> reactionary, adjective, noun, pl. -aries.<DL COMPACT><DD>adj. having to do with or favoring a return to a previous, usually more conservative, state of affairs. Ex. The economic recession brought about a reactionary attitude toward low tariffs. <DD>noun a person who favors a return to a previous, usually more conservative, state of affairs, especially in politics; extreme conservative. </DL> <A NAME="reactionaryism"> reactionaryism, noun. =reactionism.</DL> <A NAME="reactionengine"> reaction engine,<DL COMPACT><DD> an engine which expels a stream of burned exhaust gases at high velocity, the reaction from which creates a forward accelerating force; thrustor; jet engine. </DL> <A NAME="reactionism"> reactionism, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> reactionary principles and ideas; inclination toward a previous state of affairs, especially in politics. </DL> <A NAME="reactionist"> reactionist, adjective, noun. =reactionary.</DL> <A NAME="reactionkey"> reaction key,<DL COMPACT><DD> (Psychology.) an instrument to record movement of response in a reaction experiment. </DL> <A NAME="reactiontime"> reaction time,<DL COMPACT><DD> the interval of time between a stimulus or signal and the response to it. </DL> <A NAME="reactionturbine"> reaction turbine,<DL COMPACT><DD> a turbine whose wheels are turned by the weight or pressure of water or steam as well as by its speed of flow. Reaction turbines have movable vanes around the edge of the wheel to adjust the flow of water or steam and direct it at the desired angle. </DL> <A NAME="reactivate"> reactivate, transitive verb, -vated, -vating.<DL COMPACT><DD> to make active again; restore to active service. Ex. The Army announced that the old 101st Airborne Division, famous for its stand at Bastogne in the second world war, will be reactivated at Fort Campbell, Kentucky (Newsweek). </DL> <A NAME="reactivation"> reactivation, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the act or process of reactivating or state of being reactivated. Ex. The government has authorized this month the reactivation of thirteen more labor unions (New York Times). </DL> <A HREF="reactive.dic">NEXT</A>