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ratchet and pawl

(Encyclopedia)ratchet and pawl, mechanical device that permits motion in one direction only. The ratchet is usually a wheel with slanting teeth. The pawl is a lever tangential to the wheel with one end resting on t...

Shining Path

(Encyclopedia)Shining Path, Span. Sendero Luminoso, Peruvian Communist guerrilla force, officially the Communist party of Peru. Founded in 1970 by Abimael Guzmán...

Bozez and Seneh

(Encyclopedia)Bozez sēˈnə, –nĕ [key], two cliffs at the entrance to the ravine of Michmash (now the Wadi Suweinet); they are mentioned in the First Book of Samuel. ...

Reading, Rufus Daniel Isaacs, 1st marquess of

(Encyclopedia)Reading, Rufus Daniel Isaacs, 1st marquess of rĕdˈĭng [key], 1860–1935, British statesman. Called to the bar in 1887, he achieved great success in his profession. He entered Parliament as a Liber...

Applegate, Jesse

(Encyclopedia)Applegate, Jesse, 1811–88, American pioneer in Oregon, b. Kentucky. With his family he moved (1821) to Missouri, and there in 1843 he joined the Great Migration of more than 900 people over the Oreg...

Simpson-Miller, Portia

(Encyclopedia)Simpson-Miller, Portia, 1945–, Jamaican political leader, prime minister of Jamaica (2006–7, 2012–16). A member of the People's National party (PNP), she was first elected to parliament in 1976....

Bakiyev, Kurmanbek Saliyevich

(Encyclopedia)Bakiyev, Kurmanbek Saliyevich ko͞ormänbĕkˈ bäkēˈyĕv [key], 1949–, Kyrgyz political leader, president of Kyrgyzstan (2005–2010), b. Masadan. A graduate of Kuybyshev Polytechnic Institute (1...

baroque, in art and architecture

(Encyclopedia)baroque bərōkˈ [key], in art and architecture, a style developed in Europe, England, and the Americas during the 17th and early 18th cent. The baroque style is characterized by an emphasis on unity...

commonwealth

(Encyclopedia)commonwealth, form of administration signifying government by the common consent of the people. To Locke and Hobbes and other 17th-century writers the term meant an organized political community simil...

Venda

(Encyclopedia)Venda vĕndˈə [key], former black “homeland” and nominal republic, NE South Africa. It comprised two connected areas near the Zimbabwe border in what is now Limpopo prov. Kruger National Park bo...