All operations required for breaking out stowage and the safe disengagement and clearing away of the life-saving equipment with full complement from the stricken ship.

Abiogenic petroleum origin is a body of hypotheses which propose that petroleum and natural gas deposits are mostly formed by inorganic means, rather than by the decomposition of organisms.

A member of the deck crew who is able to perform all the duties of an experienced seaman; must have three years of sea service.

A condition that occurs in a process system when an operating variable (flow, pressure, temperature, etc.) ranges outside of its normal operating limits, (ABS).

Scraping or wearing away, rubbing off.

Resistance to frictional rubbing.

Agent used for blast cleaning before coating application.

Cleaning of steel with abrasives propelled by compressed air jet preparatory to painting.

An instrument used for very accurate measurements of solar irradiance.

Absolute pressure is zero-referenced against a perfect vacuum, using an absolute scale, so it is equal to gauge pressure plus atmospheric pressure.

Absolute zero is the lowest limit of the thermodynamic temperature scale, a state at which the enthalpy and entropy of a cooled ideal gas reach their minimum value, taken as zero kelvins.

Absorbed dose is a dose quantity which is the measure of the energy deposited in matter by ionizing radiation per unit mass.

AGM batteries differ from flooded lead–acid batteries in that the electrolyte is held in the glass mats, as opposed to freely flooding the plates.

Substance that is able to take in moisture, oil, etc.

In physics, absorption of electromagnetic radiation is how matter (typically electrons bound in atoms) takes up a photon's energy — and so transforms electromagnetic energy into internal energy of the absorber (for example, thermal energy).

An absorption refrigerator is a refrigerator that uses a heat source (e.g., solar energy, a fossil-fueled flame, waste heat from factories, or district heating systems) to provide the energy needed to drive the cooling process.

An abutment is the substructure at the ends of a bridge span or dam supporting its superstructure.

AC power plugs and sockets connect electric equipment to the alternating current power supply.

An AC generator converts mechanical energy into alternating current electricity.

Accelerated aging is testing that uses aggravated conditions of heat, humidity, oxygen, sunlight, vibration, etc. to speed up the normal aging processes of items.