(n.) One who, or that which, skims; esp., a utensil with which liquids are skimmed.
(n.) Any species of longwinged marine birds of the genus Rhynchops, allied to the terns, but having the lower mandible compressed and much longer than the upper one. These birds fly rapidly along the surface of the water, with the lower mandible immersed, thus skimming out small fishes. The American species (R. nigra) is common on the southern coasts of the United States. Called also scissorbill, and shearbill.
(n.) Any one of several large bivalve shells, sometimes used for skimming milk, as the sea clams, and large scallops.
Example Sentences:
(1) 39 min Superb football from Spain: Fabregas drifts inside before floating a rescue-club chip towards Torres, who flicks it over his head before testing Afinkeev with a skimmer.
(2) The government sent skimmers and booms to help clear up the oil , while BP recruited an "armada" of fishermen , otherwise banned from fishing for shrimp off the waters off Louisiana, to help lay some of the 2.25 million feet of containment booms to contain the slick.
(3) The sections of boom he had seen out in the sea were laid piecemeal and at random, and there seemed to be far too few skimmers drawing up the oil.
(4) Collisional activation was carried out in the high-pressure region between the capillary exit and the skimmer entrance to the mass analyzer.
(5) There have been more than 6,390 vessels (including skimmers, tugs, barges and recovery ships) and over 11m feet of boom deployed offshore to reduce the amount of oil reaching the shoreline.
(6) Clutch size (3.1 to 3.4) of Lavaca Bay black skimmers (Rynchops niger) was no different than that (3.4) at a reference colony near Laguna Vista.
(7) Desolvation is effected by the use of controlled heat transfer through the long capillary tube and collisional activation in a region of reduced pressure between the capillary tube exit and the skimmer.
(8) Heavy metal and selenium concentrations were analyzed in breast feathers of adult black skimmers Rynchops niger, a species with marked sexual size dimorphism in which males average 35% heavier than females.
(9) Some 266,000 barrels of oil had been collected by skimmers out of a total of more than 6m barrels that had dispersed since the rig exploded on 20 April.
(10) His next save was genuinely required as he dived low to deny Necid’s low skimmer.
(11) The positive-ion spectrum was dominated by an ion corresponding to a sodiated molecule when a low potential difference between the capillary exit (nozzle) and the skimmer was employed, but when the capillary exit voltage was increased, fragmentation of PAF was observed.
(12) Eggshell thinning in Forster's terns (7%) and black skimmers (5%) was below that associated with lowered reproduction.
(13) The cost of dealing with the disaster includes the flotilla of 275 skimmers, tugs, barges and recovery vessels being used to collect and disperse the slick, as well as the efforts to stem the spill on the sea bed.
(14) "There were no visible research vessels, and the only visible relief effort in this area was about 30 shrimp boats off the shore of Little Gozier island pulling booms, with no skimmers taking the oil off the surface."
Spatula
Definition:
(n.) An implement shaped like a knife, flat, thin, and somewhat flexible, used for spreading paints, fine plasters, drugs in compounding prescriptions, etc. Cf. Palette knife, under Palette.
Example Sentences:
(1) The relationship between technique of obtaining Papanicolaou smears, presence of endocervical cells, and rate of cervical neoplasia was studied by comparing an endocervical and ectocervical nylon brush (Bayne brush), Ayre spatula plus endocervical brush, and spatula plus cotton-tipped swab in a randomized, prospective trial involving 11,061 patients.
(2) A model system of exfoliated normal human cervicovaginal squamous cells, exfoliated rodent tumor cells, and acellular, viscous, mucuslike material was used to investigate cell deposition on smear preparations made with three different instruments: plastic spatulas, wooden spatulas, and brush-tipped collectors.
(3) Both the modified Ayre spatula and the cytobrush were found to be inadequate in a significant number of patients with known cytological atypia.
(4) Since the collected epithelium cells adhere to the pipettes, these cells were transferred onto a polycarbonate filter by using a micro spatula.
(5) The performance of a new ectocervical brush sampler--the Cervex--was compared with the Ayre spatula in 280 paired cervical smears.
(6) With this approach, retraction of the orbital contents decreases the amount of retraction of the brain to such an extent that a brain spatula is not necessary for access to the anterior communicating artery complex.
(7) The incidence of smears with endocervical cells, however, was significantly greater using the Aylesbury (33.4%) than the Ayre (20.4%) spatulas, despite there being no difference in the incidence of smears with epithelial abnormalities.
(8) The inefficiency of the Ayres Spatula in detecting abnormality in cervical cytology has been demonstrated recently in a number of trials.
(9) 5 Flip with a spatula and cook the other side for a few minutes until golden.
(10) After closing the scleral flap with eight interrupted sutures and the conjunctival flap with a running suture, a 1-mm spatula was inserted beneath the scleral flap, and the trabeculum was punctured.
(11) The efficacy of a new sampling technique performed for early detection of cervical carcinoma is compared with Pap smears with the swab-and-wooden spatula technique in 312 women.
(12) The nationwide screening program for cervical carcinoma in The Netherlands was unique in that all women between the age of 35 and 55 years were individually invited to undergo a cervical spatula smear.
(13) Fifty-nine patients had a cervical scrape with a wood spatula first and a plastic spatula second: 60 were scraped in the inverse order.
(14) The cytologically positive cases found in 25,300 cervical smears of spatula samples and 6,168 smears prepared by combined spatula-Cytobrush sampling were analyzed.
(15) In 130 high-risk patients for cervical pathology paired smears were obtained with a wooden spatula and a Cytobrush.
(16) The Multispatula, which is adjustable to the specific shape of each individual cervix, was compared with the Ayre spatula in 236 patients.
(17) A cyclodialysis spatula specifically designed for glaucoma surgery is presented which facilitates the performance of the cyclodialysis procedure alone or in combination with cataract extraction and decreases the chance of inadvertent damage to the eye.
(18) The single case of filamentous bacteria suggests that a spatula may yield better organism retrieval from ulcers caused by filamentous organisms.
(19) They are also known for space-saving devices such as utensils which pack neatly on top of each other in a stand, spatulas, palette knifes and ladles that use a weighted handle to avoid being placed on the countertop, thus saving cleaning.
(20) There are three typical types of manicure: the regular polish; the gel or acrylic spatula-shaped talons beloved of the tabloid Wag; and the super-cool, bejewelled nail art more commonly seen in either east London or Japan.