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tobacco

(Encyclopedia)tobacco, name for any plant of the genus Nicotiana of the Solanaceae family (nightshade family) and for the product manufactured from the leaf and used in cigars and cigarettes, snuff, and pipe and ch...

meteorite

(Encyclopedia)meteorite, meteor that survives the intense heat of atmospheric friction and reaches the earth's surface. Because of the destructive effects of this friction, only the very largest meteors become mete...

Bolivia

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Bolivia bōlĭvˈēə, Span. bōlēˈvyä [key], officially Plurinational Stat...

horse racing

(Encyclopedia)horse racing, trials of speed involving two or more horses. It includes races among harnessed horses with one of two particular gaits, among saddled Thoroughbreds (or, less frequently, quarterhorses) ...

British Empire

(Encyclopedia)British Empire, overseas territories linked to Great Britain in a variety of constitutional relationships, established over a period of three centuries. The establishment of the empire resulted primar...

wool

(Encyclopedia)wool, fiber made from the fleece of the domestic sheep. In the United States, by the Wool Products Labeling Act of 1939, the term wool may be applied only to fabrics made entirely of new wool; t...

woman suffrage

(Encyclopedia)woman suffrage, the right of women to vote. Throughout the latter part of the 19th cent. the issue of women's voting rights was an important phase of feminism. On the European mainland, Finland (1...

Antarctica

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Antarctica ăntärkˈtĭkə, –ärˈtĭkə [key], the fifth largest continent, c.5,500,000 sq mi (14,245,000 sq km), asymmetrically centered on the South Pole and almost entirely within the An...

wine

(Encyclopedia)wine, alcoholic beverage made by the fermentation of the juice of the grape. Wine is so ancient that its origin is unknown. The earliest archaeological evidence of winemaking dates to 8,000 years ago,...

birth control

(Encyclopedia)birth control, practice of contraception for the purpose of limiting reproduction. Although contraceptive techniques had been known in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, the modern movement for birth ...