| Arab League |
a confederation of nations sharing a common Arabic language and culture, formed in 1945 to promote economic, military, and political cooperation among its members, and now grown to a total of twenty-one. |
| Arab Republic of Egypt |
see "Egypt." |
| arachibutyrophobia |
the persistent fear of or intense distress caused by peanut butter sticking to the roof of one's mouth. |
| arachidonic acid |
an unsaturated fatty acid that is an important component of the cell membrane and is considered an essential nutrient in the diet of most mammals, including humans. |
| arachnid |
an arthropod having four pairs of legs and belonging to the class that includes scorpions, ticks, and spiders. |
| arachnoid |
an arachnid. [5 definitions] |
| arachnophobia |
an irrational fear of spiders. |
| arak |
see "arrack." |
| Aral Sea |
formerly, a very large, single lake in Central Asia. Once one of the world's largest lakes, the Aral Sea has vastly diminished in volume of water and has divided into separate parts as a result of the diversion, for agricultural purposes, of the rivers that fed the lake. The southeastern part of the Aral Sea has become entirely dry. |
| Aramaic |
the Semitic language of ancient Syria, Palestine, and Southwest Asia. [3 definitions] |
| Arapaho |
a member of a North American Indian tribe that formerly lived in the western plains from Texas and New Mexico to Canada, and now lives in Oklahoma and Wyoming. [2 definitions] |
| arapaima |
a very large edible fish of the rivers of the Amazon region. |
| araroba |
a bitter yellow medicinal powder obtained from cavities in the trunk of a Brazilian tree; Goa powder. [2 definitions] |
| araucaria |
a cone-bearing evergreen native to the Southern Hemisphere and grown as an ornamental elsewhere. |
| Arawak |
a member of an Indian people once widespread throughout the West Indies, now living chiefly in northern South America. [2 definitions] |
| Arawakan |
a family of South American Indian languages that includes Arawak. |
| arbalest |
a medieval missile-launching weapon whose design is similar to that of a crossbow. |
| arbiter |
someone who has the authority to decide an issue or settle a dispute; arbitrator. |
| arbitrage |
the purchase of a security or commodity in one financial market and its immediate resale in a different market, used as a way to profit from the difference in market prices. [3 definitions] |
| arbitrager |
one that engages in arbitrage. |
| arbitrament |
the act of arbitrating. [2 definitions] |