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Possible definitions for rabbies

rabies
Acute, usually fatal infectious disease of warm-blooded animals that attacks the central nervous system. It is spread by contact with an infected animal's saliva, usually from a bite. The rhabdovirus that causes it spreads along nerve tissue from the wound to the brain. Symptoms usually appear four to six weeks later, often beginning with irritability and aggressiveness. Wild animals lose their fear of humans but are easily provoked to bite, as are pets. Depression and paralysis soon follow. Death usually comes three to five days after symptoms begin. In humans, death can result from a seizure in the early phase even before symptoms of central-nervous-system depression develop. One name for rabies, hydrophobia ("fear of water"), comes from painful throat contraction on trying to swallow. If not treated in time (within a day or two) with a serum containing antibodies and then a series of vaccinations, rabies in humans is almost always fatal. Immediate cleansing of animal bites with soap and water can remove much of the virus.


rabbi
In Judaism, a person qualified by study of the Hebrew scriptures and the Talmud to serve as spiritual leader of a Jewish community or congregation. Ordination can be conferred by any rabbi, but it usually depends on a written statement issued by the candidate's teacher. Though rabbis are considered teachers rather than priests, they conduct religious services, assist at bar mitzvahs, perform marriages, and are present at funerals. In questions of divorce, a rabbi's role depends on an appointment to a special court of Jewish law. The rabbi also counsels and consoles members of his congregation and oversees the religious education of the young.


rabbit
Any small, bounding, gnawing mammal of the family Leporidae. Rabbits have long ears, a short tail, long hind legs, and two pairs of upper incisors--one pair behind a larger, functional pair. Most species are gray or brown. They grow to 10-18 in. (25-45 cm) long and weigh 1-4 lbs (0.5-2 kg). They feed primarily on grasses. Their reproductive rate is very high; unlike hares, rabbits are born naked, blind, and helpless. Most species are nocturnal and live alone in burrows, but the European, or Old World, rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) of Europe and Asia, ancestor to all domestic breeds, lives in warrens consisting of many burrows. The 13 species of N. Amer. cottontail rabbits (genus Sylvilagus) have white on the underside of the tail.

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Top words beginning with R: reshovel, remaker, rowlandite, recapion, reedmaker, rajbansi, riddel, remantle, rana, reclaiming, remerge, reevoking, rollneck, repiners, refective, reprobatory, reoccasion, roncador, rummager, rumourers

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