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Korea

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Korea kôrēˈə, kə– [key], Korean Hanguk or Choson, region and historic country (85,049 sq mi/220,277 sq km), E Asia. A peninsula, 600 mi (966 km) long, Korea separates the Sea of Japan (c...

Kuchuk Kainarji, Treaty of

(Encyclopedia)Kuchuk Kainarji, Treaty of ko͞ocho͞okˈ kīnärˈjē, Turk. küchükˈ kīˌnärjäˈ [key], 1774, peace treaty signed at the end of the first of the Russo-Turkish Wars undertaken by Catherine II of...

Marsh, Dame Ngaio

(Encyclopedia)Marsh, Dame Ngaio nīˈō [key], 1899–1982, New Zealand detective story writer. She was an art student, actress, and theatrical producer before her first novel, A Man Lay Dead, was published in 1934...

aspirin

(Encyclopedia)aspirin, acetyl derivative of salicylic acid (see salicylate) that is used to lower fever, relieve pain, reduce inflammation, and thin the blood. Common conditions treated with aspirin include headach...

rubella

(Encyclopedia)rubella or German measles, acute infectious disease of children and young adults. It is caused by a filterable virus that is spread by droplet spray from the respiratory tract of an infected individua...

Russian Revolution

(Encyclopedia)Russian Revolution, violent upheaval in Russia in 1917 that overthrew the czarist government. The civil war between the Bolsheviks (Reds) and the anti-Bolsheviks (Whites) ravaged Russia until 1920. ...

SARS

(Encyclopedia)SARS or severe acute respiratory syndrome, communicable viral disease that can progress to a potentially fatal pneumonia. The first symptoms of SARS are usually a high fever, headache and body aches, ...

refraction

(Encyclopedia)refraction, in physics, deflection of a wave on passing obliquely from one transparent medium into a second medium in which its speed is different, as the passage of a light ray from air into glass. O...

refugee

(Encyclopedia)refugee, one who leaves one's native land either because of expulsion or to escape persecution. The legal problem of accepting refugees is discussed under asylum; this article considers only mass disl...

Icelandic language

(Encyclopedia)Icelandic language, member of the North Germanic, or Scandinavian, group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. Spoken chiefly in Iceland, where it is the official languag...