a correctional institution used to detain persons who are in the lawful custody of the government (either accused persons awaiting trial or convicted persons serving a sentence)
(computer science) the area of the screen in graphical user interfaces against which icons and windows appear
a person's social heritage: previous experience or training; "he is a lawyer with a sports background"
information that is essential to understanding a situation or problem; "the embassy filled him in on the background of the incident"
the part of a scene (or picture) that lies behind objects in the foreground; "he posed her against a background of rolling hills"
relatively unimportant or inconspicuous accompanying situation; "when the rain came he could hear the sound of thunder in the background"
extraneous signals that can be confused with the phenomenon to be observed or measured; "they got a bad connection and could hardly hear one another over the background signals"
understate the importance or quality of; "he played down his royal ancestry"
one skilled in caring for young children or the sick (usually under the supervision of a physician)
try to cure by special care of treatment, of an illness or injury; "He nursed his cold with Chinese herbs"
treat carefully; "He nursed his injured back by lying in bed several hours every afternoon"; "He nursed the flowers in his garden and fertilized them regularly"
serve as a nurse; care for sick or handicapped people
an imaginary line around the Earth forming the great circle that is equidistant from the north and south poles; "the equator is the boundary between the northern and southern hemispheres"
a circle dividing a sphere or other surface into two usually equal and symmetrical parts
a raised horizontal surface; "the speaker mounted the platform"
any military structure or vehicle bearing weapons
the combination of a particular computer and a particular operating system
a document stating the aims and principles of a political party; "their candidate simply ignored the party platform"; "they won the election even though they offered no positive program"
the size of something as given by the distance around it
the length of the closed curve of a circle
the boundary line encompassing an area or object; "he had walked the full circumference of his land"; "a danger to all races over the whole circumference of the globe"
jewelry consisting of a circlet of precious metal (often set with jewels) worn on the finger; "she had rings on every finger"; "he noted that she wore a wedding band"
a square platform marked off by ropes in which contestants box or wrestle
a characteristic sound; "it has the ring of sincerity"
the sound of a bell ringing; "the distinctive ring of the church bell"; "the ringing of the telephone"; "the tintinnabulation that so voluminously swells from the ringing and the dinging of the bells"--E. A. Poe
a toroidal shape; "a ring of ships in the harbor"; "a halo of smoke"
attach a ring to the foot of, in order to identify; "ring birds"; "band the geese to observe their migratory patterns"
sound loudly and sonorously; "the bells rang"
make (bells) ring, often for the purposes of musical edification; "Ring the bells"; "My uncle rings every Sunday at the local church"
graphic art consisting of the graphic or photographic representation of a visual percept; "he painted scenes from everyday life"; "figure 2 shows photographic and schematic views of the equipment"
a consecutive series of pictures that constitutes a unit of action in a film
a subdivision of an act of a play; "the first act has three scenes"
an incident (real or imaginary); "their parting was a sad scene"
the place where some action occurs; "the police returned to the scene of the crime"