(Encyclopedia) taretaretâr [key], name sometimes used as a synonym for any vetch, most frequently for the common vetch. The tare of the Scriptures, a weed of grainfields and considered a seed of evil…
(Encyclopedia) Concert of Europe, term used in the 19th cent. to designate a loose agreement by the major European powers to act together on European questions of common interest. The concert emerged…
(Encyclopedia) cyst, abnormal sac in the body, filled with a fluid or semisolid and enclosed in a membrane. Cysts can be congenital but are usually acquired, the most common locations being the skin…
(Encyclopedia) DEET or N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide, C12H17ON, nearly odorless, colorless to clear yellow oily liquid that boils at 111℃. DEET was developed by the U.S. Army in 1946 for use as an…
(Encyclopedia) graining, process of painting by which natural wood grain is imitated. It was common practice in the late 19th cent. to grain cheap, soft woods to give them the appearance of rare,…
(Encyclopedia) frog's-bit, common name for members of the Hydrocharitaceae, a family of aquatic herbs found in warm fresh- and saltwaters throughout the world. Most species grow partially or…
(Encyclopedia) Hercules'-club, common name for several small, thorny trees, chiefly the devil's-walking-stick of the family Aralaceae (ginseng family) and the prickly ash of the family Rutaceae (…
(Encyclopedia) herpesvirus, any of the family (Herpesviridae) of common DNA-containing viruses, many of which are associated with human disease. See cytomegalovirus; Epstein-Barr virus; herpes…
(Encyclopedia) drumlindrumlindrŭmˈlĭn [key], smooth oval hill of glacial drift, elongated in the direction of the movement of the ice that deposited it. Drumlins, which may be more than 150 ft (45 m…
(Encyclopedia) alodalodăˈlŏd [key]. In feudal tenure, lands held without obligation to any suzerain (overlord) were termed held in alod. Alodial lands existed in England and on the Continent. They…
