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portico

(Encyclopedia)portico pôrˈtĭkō [key], roofed space using columns or posts, generally included between a wall and a row of columns or between two rows of columns. In Greece the stoa was a portico of the first ty...

Olbia

(Encyclopedia)Olbia ŏlˈbēə [key], Ionic Greek colony of Miletus, founded at the beginning of the 6th cent. b.c. It is on the right bank of the Buh River between Mykolayiv and Ochakiv, S central Ukraine. The lea...

Ellora

(Encyclopedia)Ellora ĕlōˈrə [key], village, E central Maharashtra state, India. Extending more than 1 mi (1.6 km) on a hill are 34 rock and cave temples (5th–13th cent.), most of them Hindu but some Buddhist ...

gypsum

(Encyclopedia)gypsum jĭpˈsəm [key], mineral composed of calcium sulfate (calcium, sulfur, and oxygen) with two molecules of water, CaSO4·2H2O. It is the most common sulfate mineral, occurring in many places in ...

Kilauea

(Encyclopedia)Kilauea kēˈläwāˈə [key], volcano and caldera, 3,646 ft (1,111 m) deep, central Hawaii island, Hawaii, on the southeastern slope of Mauna Loa in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. One of the largest...

abbey

(Encyclopedia)abbey, monastic house, especially among Benedictines and Cistercians, consisting of not less than 12 monks or nuns ruled by an abbot or abbess. Many abbeys were originally self-supporting. In the Bene...

tapeworm

(Encyclopedia)tapeworm, name for the parasitic flatworms forming the class Cestoda. All tapeworms spend the adult phase of their lives as parasites in the gut of a vertebrate animal (called the primary host). Most ...

polyp and medusa

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Polyp and medusa stages in the life cycle of Obelia, representative of the phylum Cnidaria polyp and medusa, names for the two body forms, one nonmotile and one typically free swimming, found ...

San José, city, Costa Rica

(Encyclopedia)San José sän hōsāˈ [key], city (1989 pop. 287,535), central Costa Rica, capital and largest city of Costa Rica. San José is the economic, political, and social center of Costa Rica, dominating t...

Ravalomanana, Marc

(Encyclopedia)Ravalomanana, Marc märk rävälōmänänˈ [key], 1949–, Malagasy political leader. He made a fortune manufacturing dairy products and began his political career in 1999 when he was elected mayor o...