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Manchester Ship Canal

(Encyclopedia)Manchester Ship Canal, 35.5 mi (57 km) long with a minimum depth of 28 ft (8.5 m), connecting Manchester, W England, with the Mersey estuary at Eastham, above Birkenhead. Begun in 1887, it was opened ...

Welland Ship Canal

(Encyclopedia)Welland Ship Canal, 27.6 mi (44.4 km) long, SE Ont., Canada, connecting Lake Ontario with Lake Erie and bypassing Niagara Falls. Built between 1914 and 1932 by Canada to replace a canal opened in 1829...

black snake

(Encyclopedia)black snake, name for several snakes, not all closely related, that are black in color. In the United States the name is applied chiefly to the black racer and to the black rat snake (Elaphe obsoleta)...

carbon black

(Encyclopedia)carbon black, mixture of partially burned hydrocarbons. Carbon black is produced by partial combustion of natural gas. It is used as a black pigment for inks and paints, and is used in large amounts b...

black market

(Encyclopedia)black market, the selling or buying of commodities at prices above the legal ceiling or beyond the amount allotted to a customer in countries that have placed restrictions on sales and prices. Such tr...

black fly

(Encyclopedia)black fly, name for any of the flies of the family Simuliidae. The black fly is about 1⁄8 in. (3.2 mm) long and has large eyes, short legs, a stout, humped back, broad gauzy wings, and piercing-suck...

ship of the line

(Encyclopedia)ship of the line, large, square-rigged warship, carrying from 70 to 140 guns on two or more completely armed gun decks. In the great naval wars of the 17th, 18th, and early 19th cent., ships of the li...

bone black

(Encyclopedia)bone black, solid black material, largely carbon, produced by heating animal bones to high temperatures in the absence of air so as to drive off volatile substances. Finely divided bone black is usefu...

black hole

(Encyclopedia)black hole, in astronomy, celestial object of such extremely intense gravity that it attracts everything near it and in some instances prevents everything, including light, from escaping. The term was...

Black Belt

(Encyclopedia)Black Belt, term applied to several areas of Mississippi and Alabama, the heart of the Old South, which are characterized by black soil and excellent cotton-growing conditions. The Black Belt area was...