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wig

(Encyclopedia)wig, arrangement of artificial or human hair worn to conceal baldness, as a disguise, or as part of a costume, either theatrical, ceremonial, or fashionable. In ancient Egypt the wig was worn to prote...

wormwood

(Encyclopedia)wormwood, Mediterranean perennial herb or shrubby plant (Artemisia absinthium) of the family Asteraceae (aster family), often cultivated in gardens and found as an escape in North America. It has silv...

cerebellum

(Encyclopedia)cerebellum sĕrˌəbĕlˈəm [key], portion of the brain that coordinates movements of voluntary (skeletal) muscles. It contains about half of the brain's neurons, but these particular nerve cells are...

bowerbird

(Encyclopedia)bowerbird, common name for any of several species of birds of the family Ptilonorhynchidae, native to Australia and New Guinea, which build, for courtship display, a bower of sticks or grasses. Usuall...

niobium

(Encyclopedia)niobium nīōˈbēəm [key], metallic chemical element; symbol Nb; at. no. 41; at. wt. 92.90638; m.p. about 2,468℃; b.p. 4,742℃; sp. gr. 8.57 at 20℃; valence +2, +3, +4, or +5. Niobium is a rare...

mica

(Encyclopedia)mica mīˈkə [key], general term for a large group of minerals, hydrous silicates of aluminum and potassium, often containing magnesium, ferrous iron, ferric iron, sodium, and lithium and more rarely...

Martí, José

(Encyclopedia)Martí, José hōsāˈ märtēˈ [key], 1853–95, Cuban essayist, poet, and patriot, leader of the Cuban struggle for independence. One of the greatest prose writers of Spanish America, he is noted f...

sandgrouse

(Encyclopedia)sandgrouse, common name for pigeon-sized, seed-eating, terrestrial birds of the genera Pteroclida (approximately 14 species) and Syrrhaptes (2 species). They are birds of the Old World deserts and ste...

Schwarzenegger, Arnold Alois

(Encyclopedia)Schwarzenegger, Arnold Alois, 1947–, Austrian-American actor, bodybuilder, and politician, b. Thal, Austria. He began competing in bodybuilding contests in his teens, and won his first of five Mr. U...

Corot, Jean-Baptiste Camille

(Encyclopedia)Corot, Jean-Baptiste Camille zhäN-bätēstˈ kämēˈyə kôrōˈ [key], 1796–1875, French landscape painter, b. Paris. Corot was one of the most influential of 19th-century painters. The son of sh...