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e-commerce

(Encyclopedia)e-commerce, commerce conducted over the Internet, most often via the World Wide Web. E-commerce can apply to purchases made through the Web or to business-to-business activities such as inventory tran...

trusteeship, territorial

(Encyclopedia)trusteeship, territorial, system of UN control for territories that were not self-governing. It replaced the mandates of the League of Nations. Provided for under chapters 12 and 13 of the Charter of ...

tick

(Encyclopedia)tick, small, parasitic arachnid of the order Ixodida, closely related to the mites. Ticks, which are larger than the often microscopic mites, are all parasitic in at least one developmental stage; mos...

record player

(Encyclopedia)record player or phonograph, device for reproducing sound that has been recorded as a spiral, undulating groove on a disk. This disk is known as a phonograph record, or simply a record (see sound reco...

Quadruple Alliance

(Encyclopedia)Quadruple Alliance, any of several European alliances. The Quadruple Alliance of 1718 was formed by Great Britain, France, the Holy Roman emperor, and the Netherlands when Philip V of Spain, guided by...

flower

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Longitudinal cross section of a flower at the time of fertilization, showing a pollen grain and a pollen tube. flower, name for the specialized part of a plant containing the reproductive orga...

piano

(Encyclopedia)piano or pianoforte, musical instrument whose sound is produced by vibrating strings struck by felt hammers that are controlled from a keyboard. The piano's earliest predecessor was the dulcimer. The ...

basalt

(Encyclopedia)basalt bəsôltˈ, băsˈôlt [key], fine-grained rock of volcanic origin, dark gray, dark green, brown, reddish, or black in color. Basalt is an igneous rock, i.e., one that has congealed from a molt...

metamorphism

(Encyclopedia)metamorphism, in geology, process of change in the structure, texture, or composition of rocks caused by agents of heat, deforming pressure, shearing stress, hot, chemically active fluids, or a combin...

fossil

(Encyclopedia)fossil, remains or imprints of plants or animals preserved from prehistoric times by the operation of natural conditions. Fossils are found in sedimentary rock, asphalt deposits, and coal and sometime...