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latex

 - 7 dictionary results

la⋅tex

[ley-teks]
–noun, plural lat⋅i⋅ces [lat-uh-seez] , la⋅tex⋅es.
1. a milky liquid in certain plants, as milkweeds, euphorbias, poppies, or the plants yielding India rubber, that coagulates on exposure to air.
2. Chemistry. any emulsion in water of finely divided particles of synthetic rubber or plastic.

Origin:
1655–65; < NL, special use of L latex water, juice, liquid
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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la·tex   (lā'těks')   
n.   pl. la·ti·ces (lā'tĭ-sēz', lāt'ĭ-) or la·tex·es
  1. The colorless or milky sap of certain plants, such as the poinsettia or milkweed, that coagulates on exposure to air.

  2. An emulsion of rubber or plastic globules in water, used in paints, adhesives, and various synthetic rubber products.

  3. Latex paint.


[Latin, fluid.]
la'tex' adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

latex 
1662, "body fluid," from L. latex (gen. laticis) "liquid, fluid," probably from Gk. latax "dregs," from PIE base *lat- "wet" (cf. M.Ir. laith "beer," Welsh llaid "mud, mire," Lith. latakas "pool, puddle," O.N. leþja "filth"). Used 1835 to mean "milky liquid from plants." Meaning "water-dispersed polymer particles" (used in rubber goods, paints, etc.) is from 1937.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: la·tex
Pronunciation: 'lA-"teks
Function: noun
Inflected Form: plural la·ti·ces /'lAt-&-"sEz, 'lat-/ or la·tex·es
: a milky usually white fluid that is usually made up of various gum resins, fats, or waxes and often a complex mixture of other substancesfrequently including poisonous compounds, is produced by cells of various seed plants (as of the milkweed, spurge, and poppy families), and is the source of rubber, gutta-percha, chicle, and balata
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Medical Dictionary

latex la·tex (lā'těks')
n.

  1. The colorless or milky sap of certain plants, such as the poinsettia, that coagulates on exposure to air.

  2. An emulsion of rubber or plastic globules in water, used in adhesives and synthetic rubber products.


la'tex' adj.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Science Dictionary
latex   (lā'těks')  Pronunciation Key 
  1. The colorless or milky sap of certain trees and plants, such as the milkweed and the rubber tree, that hardens when exposed to the air. Latex usually contains gum resins, waxes, and oils, and sometimes toxic substances.

  2. A manufactured emulsion of synthetic rubber or plastic droplets in water that resembles the latex of plants. It is used in paints, adhesives, and synthetic rubber products.


The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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Computing Dictionary

LaTeX language, text, tool
(Lamport TeX) Leslie Lamport 's document preparation system built on top of TeX. LaTeX was developed at SRI International's Computer Science Laboratory and was built to resemble Scribe.
LaTeX adds commands to simplify typesetting and lets the user concentrate on the structure of the text rather than on formatting commands.
BibTeX is a LaTeX package for bibliographic citations.
Lamport's LaTeX book has an exemplary index listing every symbol, concept and example in the book. The index in the, now obsolete, first edition includes (on page 221) the mysterious entry "Gilkerson, Ellen, 221". The second edition (1994) has an entry for "infinite loop" instead.
["LaTeX, A Document Preparation System", Leslie Lamport, A-W 1986, ISBN 0-201-15790-X (first edition, now obsolete)].
(1997-11-17)

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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