(Encyclopedia) Stevenson, Robert Louis, 1850–94, Scottish novelist, poet, and essayist, b. Edinburgh. Handicapped from youth by delicate health, he struggled all his life against tuberculosis. He…
(Encyclopedia) mutemutemy&oomacr;t [key], in music, device designed to diminish uniformly the loudness of a musical instrument. For example, a trumpet mute is cone-shaped and fits into the…
(Encyclopedia) Temple, city (1990 pop. 46,109), Bell co., central Tex.; inc. 1882. In a rich blackland region, Temple has grain and textile mills, railroad shops, and plants that make computer…
(Encyclopedia) crank, mechanical linkage consisting of a bar attached to a pivot at one of its ends in such a way that it is capable of rotating through a complete circle about the pivot. One of the…
The Glory Years In 1933, Negro League baseball finally got the financial support it needed to show off its superior brand of baseball... albeit from shady sources. Bar owner Gus Greenlee, known…
(Encyclopedia) McDowell, EphraimMcDowell, Ephraimməkdoulˈ, –douˈəl [key], 1771–1830, American pioneer surgeon, b. Virginia. He studied with the Scottish surgeon John Bell in Edinburgh and practiced…
(Encyclopedia) Agatha, SaintAgatha, Saintăgˈəthə [key], 3d cent., Sicilian virgin, martyred under Roman Emperor Decius. She is mentioned in the Martyrology of Jerome and the Calendar of Carthage in…
SUPERNOVA 1987ATHE CRAB SNRBIOGRAPHY: JOCELYN BELL BURNELL British, 1943-FIND OUT MOREA massive star dies in an explosion called a supernova. Only the collapsed core remains. If the core is…
If you say, “The cat's out of the bag” instead of “The secret is given away,” you're using an idiom. The meaning of an idiom is different from the actual meaning of the words used. “An apple a day…
We don't know whether animals insult their enemies by calling them human beings, but we call on quite a few animals to describe other people in uncomplimentary ways. Here are some animals that…
