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handedness

(Encyclopedia)handedness, habitual or more skillful use of one hand as opposed to the other. Approximately 90% of humans are thought to be right-handed. It was traditionally argued that there is a slight tendency t...

Páez, Pedro

(Encyclopedia)Páez, Pedro pāˈᵺrō päˈāth [key], 1564–1622, Spanish Jesuit missionary. He preached in Goa, India, was enslaved for seven years in Sana, Yemen, and in 1603 arrived in Ethiopia. He rapidly le...

coast protection

(Encyclopedia)coast protection, methods used to protect coastal lands from erosion. Beaches can exist only where a delicate dynamic equilibrium exists between the amount of sand supplied to the beach and the inevit...

shield, armor

(Encyclopedia)shield, piece of defensive armor, worn on the arm or shoulder to ward off weapons during combat, used prior to the dominance of gunpowder. Originally for individual defense during hand-to-hand combat,...

baccarat

(Encyclopedia)baccarat bäˈkəräˌ, băkˈ–, Fr. bäkäräˈ [key], French card game formerly widely played in European casinos but now supplanted in popularity by chemin de fer. The banker plays against the ha...

cane, walking stick

(Encyclopedia)cane, walking stick. Probably used first as a weapon, it gradually took on the symbolism of strength and power and eventually authority and social prestige. Ancient Egyptian rulers carried the symboli...

hammock

(Encyclopedia)hammock, suspended bed, usually of netting, canvas, or leather. The hammock and its name were introduced to Europeans by Christopher Columbus, who learned of them from Native Americans. While the plai...

Capgrave, John

(Encyclopedia)Capgrave, John, 1393–1464, English author and Augustinian friar. One of the most learned men of his day, he was a distinguished theologian, philosopher, and historian. His writings, many of which ha...

Delilah

(Encyclopedia)Delilah dĭlīˈlə [key], in the Book of Judges, courtesan in the pay of the Philistines, perhaps a Philistine herself, who was loved by Samson. She learned that his strength lay in his long hair and...

manito

(Encyclopedia)manito mănˈĭtō [key], name used among Native Americans of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock to describe the supernatural power that permeates all things (see animism). The idea of a supreme...