Auto racing Auto racing is a sport involving racing automobiles. Motor racing or motorsport may also mean motorcycle racing, and it can further include motorboat racing and air racing. It began in France in the late nineteenth century and is now one of the world's most popular, and perhaps the most thoroughly commercialization, spectator sports.
	Autobahn Autobahn is the German language word for a major high-speed road restricted to motor vehicles and having full control of access, similar to a motorway or freeway in English-speaking countries. In most countries, it usually refers to the German Autobahn specifically.
	Autocatalysis A single chemical reaction is said to have undergone autocatalysis, or be autocatalytic, if the reaction product is itself the catalyst for that reaction. A set of chemical reactions can be said to be "collectively autocatalytic" if a number of those reactions produce, as reaction products, catalysts for enough of the other reactions that the entire set of chemical reactions is self sustaining given an input of energy and food molecules.
	Autoclave An autoclave is a pressure vessel designed to heat aqueous solutions above their boiling point. It was invented by Charles Chamberland in 1879.
	Autograph An autograph is a document written entirely in the handwriting of its author, as opposed to a typesetting document or one transcribed by an amanuensis or a allography; the meaning overlaps with that of the word holograph. Autograph also refers to a person's signature.
	Autogyro n autogyro is a type of Rotary-wing aircraft aircraft supported in flight by lift provided by a rotor. Unlike a helicopter, the rotor of an autogyro is driven by aerodynamic forces alone once it is in flight, and thrust is provided by an engine-powered propeller similar to that of a fixed-wing aircraft.
	Autoinjector An autoinjector is a medical device designed to deliver a single dose of a particular medication. Most autoinjectors are spring-loaded syringes. By design, autoinjectors are easy to use and are intended for self-administration by patients. The site of injection depends on the drug loaded, but it typically is administered into the thigh or the buttocks.
	Automat An automat is a form of restaurant where simple foods and drink are served by coin-operated and bill-operated vending machines. Originally, the machines took only nickels but modern automat vending machines accept bills. In the original format, a cashier would sit in a change booth in the center of the restaurant, behind a wide marble counter with five to eight rounded depressions in it.
	Automated teller machine An automated teller machine or automatic teller machine ' is a computerized telecommunications device that provides a financial institution's customers a secure method of performing financial transactions in a public space without the need for a human clerk or bank teller.
	Automatic firearm An automatic firearm is a firearm that uses the energy of firing to extract and eject the fired Cartridge case, and load a new case. The term can be used to refer to semi-automatic firearms, which fire one shot per pull of the trigger, or fully-automatic firearms, which will continue to load and fire ammunition as long as the trigger is pressed or until the ammunition is exhausted.
	Automatic rifle An automatic rifle is a term generally used to describe a self-loading rifle capable of firing either Semi-automatic firearm- or Automatic firearmally from a Magazine or Belt of ammunition. In many cases, it describes a rifle capable of self-loading and firing a single round for each pull of the trigger.
	Automatic transmission An automatic transmission is an automobile gearbox that can change gear ratios automatically as the car or truck moves, thus freeing the driver from having to shift gears manual transmission. Most cars sold in the United States since the 1950s have been equipped with an automatic transmission.
	Automation Automation, roboticization or industrial automation or numerical control is the use of control systems such as computers to control industry machinery and industrial processes, replacing human operators. In the scope of industrialization, it is a step beyond mechanization.
	Automaton An automaton is a self-operating machine. The word is sometimes used to describe a robot, more specifically an autonomous robot. Used colloquially, it refers to a mindless follower.
	Automeris io The Io moth is a very colorful North American moth in the Saturniidae family. It ranges from the southeast corner of Manitoba and in the southern extremes of Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick in Canada, and in the US it is found from North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas, and east of those states.
	Automobile An automobile is a wheeled passenger vehicle that carries its own car engine. Most definitions of the term specify that automobiles are designed to run primarily on roads, to have seating for between one and six people, typically have four wheels and be constructed principally for the transport of people rather than goods.
	Autonomic ganglion Autonomic ganglia are clusters of neuronal soma and their dendrites and are essentially a junction between autonomic nerves originating from the central nervous system and autonomic nerves innervating their target organs in the periphery. The two main categories are:
	Autonomic nervous system The autonomic nervous system is the part of the nervous system that is not under conscious control. It is commonly divided into two usually antagonistic subsystems: the sympathetic nervous system and parasympathetic nervous system, and involves the homeostasis of organs and basic physiological functions.
	Autopsy An autopsy, also known as a post-mortem examination or an obduction, is a medical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a human corpse to determine the cause and manner of a person's death and to evaluate any disease or injury that may be present.
	Autostrada Autostrada is the Italy word for motorways/freeways, but is used in several countries including Albania, Lithuania, Poland, Egypt, and Romania. Italy's Autostrada has one of the highest speed limits in Europe, excluding the German Autobahn. The speed limit varies but 130 km/h is common; with the limits for trucks being lower.
	Autotroph An autotroph is an organism that produces organic compounds from carbon dioxide as a carbon source, using either light or reactions of inorganic chemical compounds, as a source of energy. An autotroph is known as a producer in a food chain. Plants and other organisms that carry out photosynthesis are phototrophs.
	Autumn Autumn is one of the four temperate seasons, the transition from summer into winter. In the temperate zones, autumn is the season during which most crops are harvested, and deciduous trees lose their leaf. It is also the season where days rapidly get shorter and cooler, the nights rapidly get longer, and of gradually increasing precipitation in some parts of the world.
	Auxetics Auxetics are substance that become thicker perpendicularly to the applied force when stretched. They have a negative Poisson's ratio, that is, they get thicker and not thinner when stretched. Materials of this sort are expected to have interesting mechanical properties such as high energy absorption and fracture resistance which may be useful in applications such as packing material, knee and elbow pads, robust shock absorbing material, and sponge mops.
	Auxin Auxins are a class of plant growth substance. Auxins play an essential role in coordination of many growth and behavioral processes in the plant life cycle.
	Avalanche An avalanche is a slide of a large snow down a mountainside, caused when a buildup of snow is released down a slope, and is one of the major dangers faced in the mountains in winter. An avalanche is an example of a gravity current consisting of granular material. In an avalanche, lots of material or mixtures of different types of material fall or slide rapidly under the force of gravity.
	AVALANCHE is a fictional rebel and Eco-terrorism organization from the Squaresoft computer role-playing game Final Fantasy VII. They seek to save the game's world from the conduct of the Shin-Ra, a multi-conglomorate industry which effectively controls that world.
	Avalokitesvara Avalokitesvara or Avalokiteshvara is the bodhisattva who embodies the compassion of all Buddhas. He is the most widely revered bodhisattva in Buddhism. In East Asia, the bodhisattva is known as Kuan Yin or Kannon, both of which are female manifestations.
	Avant-garde Avant-garde in French language means front guard, advance guard, or vanguard. People often use the term in French and English to refer to people or works that are experiment or novel, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics.
	Avatar In Hindu philosophy, an avatar, avatara or avatarim, most commonly refers to the incarnation of a higher being, or the Supreme Being onto planet Earth. The Sanskrit word literally means "descent" and usually implies a deliberate descent into lower realms of existence for special purposes.
	Avena Avena is a genus of 10-15 species of Poaceae, native to Europe, Asia and northwest Africa. One species, the Oat is of major commercial importance as a cereal grain. Several of the other species are nuisance weeds in cereal crops, as, being grasses like the crop, they cannot be selectively removed; any herbicide that would kill them would also damage the crop.
	Aventail An aventail is a flexible curtain of chainmail on a helmet, that extends to cover the neck and shoulders. The mail could be removed for cleaning or storage, and attached to the helm through use of a leather cord that was threaded through brass rings at the edge of the helm. Aventails were most commonly seen on bascinets in the 14th century and served as a replacement for a mail coif.
	Aventurine Aventurine is a form of quartz, characterised by its translucency and the presence of platy mineral inclusions that give a shimmering or glistening effect termed aventurescence. The most common colour of aventurine is green, but it may also be orange, brown, yellow, blue or gray.
	Averrhoa Averrhoa is a genus of trees in the Oxalidaceae family, of the Oxalidales order, named after Averroes - a 12th century astronomer and philosopher.
	Averroes Ibn Rushd, known as Averroes , was an Al-Andalus-Arab Islamic philosophy and physician, a master of philosophy and Sharia, Islamic mathematics, and Islamic medicine. He was born in Crdoba, Spain, Spain, and died in Marrakesh, Morocco.
	Avesta See Avesta Municipality for the Swedish town The Avesta is the primary collection of sacred texts of Zoroastrianism. Although some of the texts are very old, the term Avesta itself only dates to the second century Common Era. The term's Etymology roots are the middle Persian Abestag, old Persian Upastavaka, "Praise [of God]".
	Aviary An aviary is an enclosure for confining birds. Unlike birdcages, aviaries allow birds a larger living space in which to fly and simulate a natural environment. Large aviaries are often found in the setting of a zoo. Home aviaries are popular with animal fancy who have the space for them.
	Aviation Aviation refers to flying using aircraft, machines designed by humans for atmospheric flight. More generally, the term also describes the activities, industries, and regulatory bodies associated with aircraft.
	Aviator An aviator is a person who flies aircraft for pleasure or as a profession. The word is normally applied to pilots but it can be applied more broadly, for example to include people such as Wing-walking who regularly take part in an aerobatic display sequence. The word aviatrix is sometimes used of women flyers, reflecting the word's Latin root.
	Avicenna Ibn Sina or Avicenna was a Persian people physician, philosopher, and scientist who was born in 980 as the author of 450 books on a wide range of subjects. Many of these concentrated on philosophy and medicine. He was one of the Islam leading writers in the field of medicine and followed the approach of Hippocrates and Galen.
	Avicennia Avicennia is a genus of mangrove tree. As with other mangroves, it occurs in the intertidal zones of estuarine areas, and has the characteristic aerial roots of mangroves. Species of Avicennia occur worldwide south of the Tropic of Cancer. The taxonomic placement of Avicennia is contentious.
	Avicennia marina Avicennia marina, commonly known as grey mangrove or white mangrove, is a species of mangrove tree classified in the plant family Acanthaceae. As with other mangroves, it occurs in the intertidal zones of estuarine areas. It is distributed along the east coast of Africa, throughout south and south-east Asia, and into Australia.
	Avignon Avignon is a commune in France in southern France with an estimated mid-2004 population of 89,300 in the city itself and a population of 290,466 in the aire urbaine at the 1999 census.
	Avionics Avionics literally means aviation electronics. In essence it comprises all electronic systems designed for use on an aircraft. At a basic level this comprises communications, navigation and the display and management of multiple systems. It also comprises the literally hundreds of systems that are fitted to aircraft to meet individual roles.
	Avocado Avocado is a tree and the fruit of that tree, classified in the flowering plant family Lauraceae. It is native to Central America and Mexico. The tree grows to 20 m, with alternately arranged, evergreen leaf, 12-25 cm long. The flowers are inconspicuous, greenish-yellow, 5-10 mm wide.
	Avocet The four species of Avocets are waders in the same Aves family as the stilts. They are found in warm or hot climates. They have long legs and long, thin, upcurved bills which they sweep from side to side when feeding in the brackish or saline wetlands they prefer. The Feather is pied, sometimes also with some red.
	Avoidance Avoidance is a 2002 novel by Michael Lowenthal. Avoidance explores the topics of child sexual abuse and child sexuality. It is also about social conventions and mores, and how they depend on environment and upbringing.
	Awaken AWAKEN is an underground music project based in Belgium. It released two albums and numerous demo tapes and web-singles since its start in early 1988.
	Awakenings Awakenings is a 1990 drama film based on Oliver Sacks' memoir, Awakenings. It tells the real story of a doctor who, in 1969, discovers beneficial effects of the then-new drug L-Dopa. He applied it on catatonia patients who survived the 1917-1928 epidemic of encephalitis lethargica.
	Award An award is something given to a person or group of people to recognize excellence in a certain field. Awards are often signified by trophy, titles, certificates, commemorative plaques, medals, badges, award pin or award ribbon. An award can carry a monetary prize given to the recipient, for instance, the Nobel Prize for contributions to society, or the Pulitzer Prize for literary achievements.
	Awn In botany, an awn is either a hair- or bristle-like appendage on a larger structure, or in the case of the Asteraceae, a stiff needle-like element of the pappus. Awns are characteristic of many grasses, where they extend from the lemmas of the florets. They often make up the hairiness or other distinctive appearance of foxtails and the like.
	Awning An awning is a secondary covering attached to the exterior wall of a building. It is typically composed of canvas or Acrylic fiber cloth that is stretched tightly over a light structure of aluminum, iron or steel, and possibly wood. The configuration of this structure is something of a truss, space frame or planar frame.
	Axe The axe is an ancient and ubiquitous tool that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood, harvest timber, as a weapon and a ceremonial or heraldic symbol. The axe has many forms and specialized uses but generally consists of an axe head with a handle, or helve.
	Axle An axle is a central shaft for a rotation wheel or gear. In some cases the axle may be fixed in position with a bearing or bushing sitting inside the hole in the wheel or gear to allow the wheel or gear to rotate around the axle. In other cases the wheel or gear may be fixed to the axle, with bearings or bushings provided at the mounting points where the axle is supported.
	Axolotl The Axolotl is an aquatic salamander native to Mexico. In the Spanish language it is called the ajolote. The name is from the Aztec Nahuatl language, from "atl" meaning water, and "xolotl" meaning dog. It also derives its name from the Aztec God of Death Xolotl, who — according to myth — assumed the amphibian's form in an effort to escape exile, and was killed while in this form.
	Aye-aye The Aye-aye is a primate native to Madagascar that combines rodent-like teeth with a long, thin middle finger to fill the same ecological niche of a woodpecker. It is the world's largest nocturnal primate, and is characterized by its unique method of finding food; it taps on trees to find grubs, then gnaws holes in the wood and inserts its elongated middle finger to pull the grubs out.
	Ayn Rand Ayn Rand , born Alisa Zinov'yevna Rosenbaum , was a Russian-born United States philosopher best known for developing Objectivism and for writing the novels The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged, We the Living, and Anthem .
	Ayr The Royal Burgh of Ayr in the south-west of Scotland is a burgh situated on the Firth of Clyde. It was made a royal burgh in 1205. It is the county town of the Traditional counties of Scotland of Ayrshire, and is also the administrative centre for South Ayrshire Council.
	Ayrshire Ayrshire is a region of south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and the new town of Irvine, North Ayrshire. The town of Troon on the coast has hosted the The Open Championship twice in the last seven years, eight times in total, including the most recent one in 2004.
	Ayurveda Ayurveda or ayurvedic medicine is a form of alternative medicine in use primarily in the Indian subcontinent. The word "Ayurveda" is a tatpurusha compound of ' "life" and ' "knowledge", and would roughly translate as the "Science of Life". Ayurveda deals with the measures of healthy living, along with therapeutic measures that relate to physical, mental, social and spiritual harmony.
	AZ AZ, Az or az can mean:
	Azadirachtin Azadirachtin is a chemical compound belonging to the limonoids. It is a secondary metabolite present in the Neem tree seeds. The molecular formula is C35H44O16. Azadirachtin is a highly oxidised tetranortriterpenoid which boasts a plethora of oxygen functionality, comprising an enol ether, acetal, hemiacetal, and tetra-substituted oxirane as well as a variety of carboxylic esters.
	Azalea Azaleas are flowering shrubs making up part of the genus Rhododendron. Originally azaleas were classed as a different genus of plant, but now they are recognised as two of the eight sub-genera of rhododendrons - subgenus Pentanthera typified by Rhododendron nudiflorum, and subgenus Tsutsusi typified by Rhododendron tsutsusi.
	Azathioprine Azathioprine is a chemotherapy drug, now rarely used for chemotherapy but more for immunosuppression in organ transplant, autoimmune disease such as rheumatoid arthritis or inflammatory bowel disease such as Crohn's disease. It is a pro-drug, converted in the body to the active metabolites 6-mercaptopurine and 6-thioinosinic acid.
	Azerbaijan Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan , is a country in the South Caucasus. Located at the crossroads of Eastern Europe and Southwest Asia, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to the south.
	Azide An azide is the N3- anion, the anion of hydrazoic acid or a reactive group in organic chemistry where a carbon substituent is attached as RN3. The azido group is the corresponding N3 organic functional group .
	Azores The Azores are an archipelago of Portugal islands in the middle of the northern Atlantic Ocean, about 1,500 km from Lisbon and about 3,900 km from the east coast of North America. The nine Azorean Islands extend for more than 600 km, and lie in a northwest-southeast direction.
	Aztec The Aztecs were a Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican people of central Mexico in the 14th century, 15th century and 16th century centuries. They called themselves Mexicas . The capital of the Aztec empire was Tenochtitlan, built on raised islets in Lake Texcoco.
	Aztreonam Aztreonam is a monocyclic beta-lactam antibiotic originally isolated from Chromobacterium violaceum. It is resistant to some beta-lactamases, but is inactivated by extended-spectrum beta-lactamases. Aztreonam has activity against against gram-negative bacteria, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
	Azure In heraldry, azure is the tincture with the colour azure, and belongs to the class of tinctures called "colours". In engraving, it is sometimes depicted as a region of horizontal lines or else marked with either az. or b. as an abbreviation. The term azure derives from the Persian language ?????? lazhward, which was the name of a place known for its deposits of the deep blue stone now called lapis lazuli.
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