Spa

Spa, commune (1991 pop. 10,140), Liège prov., E Belgium, in the Ardennes. Its therapeutic mineral springs and baths, frequented since the 16th cent., made it an internationally fashionable watering place. Its name became so well known that the word spa is used to designate any health resort. The town had its ultimate vogue in the 18th and 19th cent. At the Spa Conference (1920) the Allies accepted a German plan for the payment of war reparations.

Spring or resort with thermal or mineral water for drinking and bathing. The word derives from a Belgian town whose springs reputedly had curative powers. Mineral springs usually contain various salts, trace minerals, and gases; many are naturally carbonated. Most thermal springs (see hot spring) also contain minerals. Warm-water bathing aids relaxation (see hydrotherapy), and high salt or sulfur content helps some skin conditions. Drinking mineral water is believed to aid digestion, and waters with specific minerals are used for particular conditions.

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SPA can refer to:

• SPA (band), a 1990's British band

As an abbreviation

• Substance P antagonist in biochemistry
• SPA, stimulation-produced analgesia, related to the GATE theory in physiology of pain
• Spa, the abbreviation for the orchid genus Spathoglottis
• saddle point approximation in quantum field theory
• Saudi Press Agency
• Sales and Purchase Agreement (legal term for selling a company)
• Sales Per Admission (in film exhibition; product/food sales per ticket sold)
• Science Practical Assessment, Singapore's assessment of students in science practicals
• School of Planning and Architecture, India's premier architecture and city-planning institution, located in Delhi
• Scottish Publishers Association, a trade association
• Secure Password Authentication
• Self-Propelled Artillery
• Sense Plan Act, artificial intelligence methodology, used in robotics
• Separation Party of Alberta
• Seven Party Mujahideen Alliance, alliance of Afghan mujahideen guerrillas against the Soviets
• simple power analysis, a type of cryptographic attack
• Single Packet Authorization
• Single Page Application, a web application that is entirely contained on the client-side (typically using a combination of HTML, JavaScript, and Cascading Style Sheets)
• Single Pitch Award, a qualification for the supervision of rock climbing awarded by the National Governing Bodies for Mountaineering in the UK
• Share purchase agreement, a contract to sell/buy shares
• Socialist Party of America
• Socialist Party of Australia
• Società per Azioni, abbreviated as "S.p.A.", Italian corporate form used by major public corporations quoted on the Italian stock exchange; similar to a joint stock company
• Société protectrice des animaux
• Software Publishers Association, now known as the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA)
• Sp.a, the "Socialistische Partij - Anders" (Socialist Party - Differently), abbreviated as "SP.a", the socialist party in Flanders.
• Special Price Agreement, price agreement with vendor for specific project
• Special Protection Area, a European Union nature conservation designation.
• spontaneous platelet aggregation, a medical term used in connection with coagulation tests
• St. Paul Academy and Summit School, a private K-12 school in Saint Paul, Minnesota
• St Patrick's Athletic, a football (Soccer) club in Ireland
• Stochastic process algebra
• Società Piemontese Automobili, a Torino-based car manufacturer (1908-1926)
• Summer Performing Arts Company, a summer educational theatre program in Grand Forks, North Dakota
• Supreme People's Assembly, parliament of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea

See also

• Spa (disambiguation)